Clace One-shots
by WildHeart22
Summary: A series of oneshots about Jace and Clary's relationship, and life. Some based on picture/song prompts that you guys send to me, or just ideas you give me.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so if you're like me-and I hope you are since you clicked on this story-you love the mortal instruments. Also, if you're like me, you love Clace. So, I LOVE writing one-shots with them, but I have some trouble coming up with ideas sometimes. So I thought that it would be fun to try this: You leave me a picture in my ask box on tumblr, or a link for it in a review-or however you want to get it to me- and I will write a one-shot about Clace that has to do with the picture.

I hope you guys have some fun with this, as I think I will. So go ahead, and leave a link in the reviews or-preferably since I check my tumblr more often than my fanfiction-leave a picture in my ask box.

To get to my tumblr, just type in writingbetterinblacksince1234tumblrcom/ask with a dot before and after tumblr

So send me those pictures so I can get on to writing you guys some One-shots!


	2. White Christmas

**So this one is just kind of the introduction. I know it's ridiculously long for a super fluffy oneshot, but I originally wrote this to publish as its own story for a Christmas thing. But I decided to post it here instead. I hope you enjoy it! **

The Institute was relatively quiet and peaceful, silent as the city of bones compared to my house right now. It was full of Luke's pack members, wishing him happy holidays. And besides that, there was the familiar franticness of the day before Christmas in the Fray household. My mom always waited until the last minute to put the finishing touches on presents, the tree, decorations, food and the other Christmas-y things.

I always tried to avoid most of the day of Christmas eve, staying with Simon until the evening came around and then returning to find our apartment morphed into a holiday wonderland, decorations finished, twinkling lights giving a joyful air to the place. It always smelled like cinnamon and apples when I returned. Everything was usually calm by the time I was home, and I could just sit and enjoy the beauty of the season with my mom and Luke. Simon was always home with his mom instead of celebrating with me-which was fine considering he didn't celebrate Christmas. Even though he didn't celebrate it, he never failed to get me a present, as I never failed to get him one for Hanukah.

This year though, instead of going to Simon's, I had decided to go spend the day with Jace and his family at the Institute. Now I walked through the empty, yet welcoming at this point, halls. I smiled as I ran into Church, the lazy Persian cat that served as a highly unreliable guide.

"Where's Jace, Church? Is he in his room?" The cat looked at me blankly.

"I don't have food. I only have Jace's Christmas present and there's no way I'm giving you that," I said, holding the wrapped box tightly, as though the cat would actually try and take it from me. I watched bitterly as the stupid cat just turned its tail to me, walked to the wall, and laid down for a nap.

I straightened up, glaring at the feline.

"Judas," I growled, walking by him. It was a nickname I had picked up from Jace. Church was always taking people to the wrong places, frequently getting people in trouble as well-although usually it was Jace getting in trouble. Jace had taken to calling him 'backstabbing Judas' and I guess I had picked up the shortened name from him.

I paced towards Jace's room, enjoying the peace and quiet of the Shadowhunters' home. It was so much calmer here than my home and I was glad that I hadn't tried to stay and suck it up as I had one year. Needless to say, I managed to catch boiling water on fire. Then I was kicked out of the kitchen for just about the rest of my life.

"Judas? You've got the right book, not really the right name." I looked up at Alec with a raised eyebrow.

"Close enough. Merry almost-Christmas," I said, smiling at him.

He smiled back. "It sound better if you say merry Christmas eve," he said. I shrugged.

"Either way, you get the point."

His eyes wandered to where Church sat, licking his paw.

"Looking for Jace?"

I nodded. "He's in the kitchen with Isabelle," he said, watching with a disgusted look as Church chewed at his paw. I smiled at him again.

"Thanks. I have to stop at his room first to hide this," I said, holding up the light, rectangular box.

He smirked lightly.

"He's going to flip if he knows that you're hiding it in his room. He hates surprises. I wouldn't let him know until he's allowed to open it."

I grinned. "Oh, trust me, he's going to know about it right away. Just to torture him."

Alec shook his head, chuckling lightly. "He's going to flip."

I began walking past him down the hall, shouting back over my shoulder "Good!"

After I had hidden the present carefully, I made my way to the kitchen. When I entered, I immediately heard the shouting from Isabelle. All I could understand of it was Jace's name. I pushed the door open and stepped in hastily.

I froze there, surveying the scene carefully. They had both frozen where they stood, their heads snapping to me as the door shut.

"Clary, for the love of everything good on this planet, get her away from me."

"Don't even _try,_ Clary," Isabelle spat.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or just walk away without saying a word. In front of me, my boyfriend was pressed back against the fridge, his hands held up in defense. His sister was holding up a glinting ladle at him threateningly.

"Clary, for the love of everything good in this world, get her away from me."

"Don't even _try_, Clary."

"Isabelle," I said warily. "What's in that spoon?"

Her eyes snapped to me.

"Jace thinks that I can't handle making mashed potatoes. But he won't even try them." She shoved the ladle at him and he eyed it guardedly.

I took a step forward and stepped up on my toes to see in the spoon. My eyes widened and I looked at Jace. His eyes met mine.

I wasn't too good at reading lips, but I was pretty sure he had just said _cheese a ducking lie co._

I grinned at him before sobering my face again.

"Now, Isabelle. I kind of need my boyfriend right now, if you don't mind. We have something to talk about."

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Is he in trouble?"

I shrugged. "That depends on his side of the conversation."

He looked at me, eyebrows raised. "What did I do? Or not do. Did I not do something I was supposed to?"

Isabelle stepped back, allowing him to slip to the side, going around the edges of the room until he reached my side. I smiled at him, grabbing his hand.

"Come on,"

"I'm only letting him go because he might be in trouble!" Isabelle called as he led the way to the door. I grinned back at her.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Isabelle."

As soon as we were out of earshot, Jace looked at me worriedly.

"What did I do? I don't remember doing anything. Did I forget something?"

I smiled at him, shaking my head. "I just said that so she would let you go without giving you food poisoning."

He stopped and turned me to face him.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

I nodded. "A lot. But don't worry, I never get tired of hearing it."

He smiled down at me and rested his hands on my waist. He lowered his head, pressing his lips to mine. It lasted only a few seconds before he pulled away and grabbed my hand, clasping our fingers together.

We walked through the halls together until we reached Jace's room. He held the door open widely for me with a sarcastic bow. I swatted his chest and walked in. I jumped onto the bed, twisting to land on my back.

Jace walked to the edge and stared down at me, his golden eyes glimmering with amusement and love. His tawny hair looked like a halo around his head with the way the light was shining down on him. I reached up to his face, stroking my hand along his cheek.

He grabbed my hand lightly, smiling softly.

"You're absolutely beautiful, you know that?"

I felt my cheeks flush as I sat up. He smirked at me. I rolled my eyes, kicking him lightly on the side of the leg before moving so that my back rested against the pillows. He sat down beside me, pulling me into his side warmly.

I felt him place a kiss on the top of my head and smiled, snuggling more into his side. He sighed and rested his cheek on my head.

"I love you," he said suddenly.

I smiled. "I love you too. Now what did you do?"

He chuckled, but didn't respond. I pulled away a little to look at him.

"Jace…"

He smiled. "I told Isabelle that we would meet her in the library in," I held up the screen of my phone so he could see the time. "Half an hour." I groaned.

"Jace…"

"I'm sorry. I know that you wanted to spend the day alone together, but I felt bad for her and Alec. Maryse and Robert aren't going to be here they're still caught up in Idris, and it's going to be our first Christmas without Max…" he trailed off for a minute and I blinked quickly, pushing back images of the young boy sleeping on the couch with his comic books. "I just thought it would be better for the three of us to be together for Christmas. To have as many of the Lightwoods as possible here."

I looked up at him and saw how solemn he looked. I smiled lightly at him and leaned forward to press my lips briefly against his. "Why didn't you just tell me that you wanted to be alone with your family today? I have no problem with giving you time with your family, Jace. I could just go to Simon's."

His eyes widened and he shook his head. "No! I didn't say I wanted you to leave. I want to spend the day with you, too. I want to be with everyone I love today, and you're clearly one of those people."

I smiled. "I should hope so. Since I gave up an opportunity to stab Sebastian for you." I stuck my tongue out at him.

He beamed at me. "Oh, it's beautiful how our love is measured by killing things," he said. "On a scale of giving up the killing blow to a Drevak to giving up the killing blow to a trash-talking Eidolon, how much do you love me?" His voice became high and mocking. I smacked his chest, laughing hard enough that my chest hurt. I was still laughing when the door swung open. I saw Isabelle standing there, her hands on her hips.

"Did you forget that-"

"No," Jace cut in. "We were just about to be on our way when Clary started distracting me."

I looked at him sharply. "Excuse me! You made the Drevak-Eidolon scale not me!"

"True, but you brought up stabbing your brother, which of course brought up demons."

Isabelle stared at us blankly.

"You two are freaks." I saw Jace's suggestive smirk before he even opened his mouth.

"Only in-"

"No!" I yelled, covering his mouth with my hand. "You finish that sentence and I _will_ cut you up and feed you to Church." He narrowed his eyes at me before I yanked my hand away, standing up abruptly.

"Eew! Jace, you're disgusting!" I wiped my palm on my jeans while he fell back onto the bed, laughing so hard that his shoulders shook and he was gasping for breath.

"It was either lick your hand or pretend to pass out, I figured you would find this one more amusing than thinking you'd killed me."

I glared at him. "That's disgusting."

Isabelle scoffed from the doorway.

"You think it's disgusting when his tongue touches your hand, but you fine with it being down your throat." My jaw dropped and my eyes went wide.

"_Isabelle!_" I shrieked, feeling my cheeks heat up. I could hear Jace laughing even harder now. "Oh. My. God. You two are horrible." I grabbed a pillow off of the bed and threw it at Jace's shaking form.

He caught it easily and continued to laugh. I saw Isabelle beginning to laugh with him and couldn't help but smile. I shook my head as I watched the two Shadowhunters crack up.

When Jace began to breath steadily again, he stood up and pulled me into his chest.

"I know that wasn't nice, but that's the hardest I've laughed in a while," he said with a chuckle. I shrugged, smiling.

"That's good, then. It's nice to be able to see you laugh like that."

Isabelle made a gagging sound from across the room and I looked up at her and stuck my tongue out.

"You're just jealous because you don't get to have a loving girlfriend like Clary," Jace said.

She raised one perfectly manicured brow. "Sorry, I don't swing that way. That's Aline's department."

"Well, I'm sure Simon will be glad to hear that."

Isabelle made an impatient gesture. "Are we going to go hang out in the library, or are you two just going to stay here and make out all day?"

I put my hands up in surrender. "Okay, we're coming."

The library is one of my favorite rooms in the Institute, second only to the greenhouse. It's a grand, yet warm room. It had a homey feel to it which I find comforting. Often, Jace and I would spend full days just sitting there together on the couch, reading or just talking. It's somewhat bittersweet for the others, I know. Hodge's absence is most obvious when in the library since he had spent most of his time there. And I know, although Jace never admits it, that he misses him. He had been a mentor to the Lightwood children for the majority of their lives, and his loss was just one of many that the family had suffered.

There was a fire crackling in the fire place when we reached the little gathering area in the large room. There was a variety of sofas and overstuffed chairs to choose from, and Jace pulled me over to a green, velvety one. Magnus and Alec sat in a sofa to the side.

I looked around with a smile while Isabelle beamed proudly. On the coffee table in front of us, a sparkling white sheet of fabric, made to look like freshly fallen snow, covered the lightly stained wood. There was a miniature, fake tree standing off the side, covered in sparkling ornaments glittering in the light filtering in through the windows. There were presents under it, each marked with a name. I saw bright red stockings hanging over the fireplace, each marked distinctly. I read the names, feeling my chest warm at Isabelle's work.

_Alec, Isabelle, Jace, Maryse, Robert, Magnus, Clary, Church._

"Now, I know that Clary and Magnus aren't going to be here tomorrow, but I still wanted to put you guys up there. You're part of the Lightwoods now. At least equal with Church," she added.

I laughed and I saw Magnus smiling too. I knew, like me, he appreciated that, being welcomed into their family like that. "Glad to know that I'm equal to the cat." Then I smiled at the girl warmly. "Thank you."

Jace pulled me to his side, kissing me quickly.

Isabelle took a seat across from Magnus and Alec.

"Well. What do the guys think? I can tell Clary likes my decorating." I smiled at her.

"It's amazing, Izzy," Jace said, Magnus and Alec nodding in agreement.

We just lazed around for the rest of the day, enjoying the relaxation that we don't get often. We talked and bantered, acting like a real family. And that's what we are. An odd little family, one that would stay together through anything.

Eventually, I began to take notice of an odd howling noise. I looked around suspiciously, catching Jace's attention.

"What is it?" He asked. I bit my lip, unsure.

"I don't know." I stood up. It sounded like it was coming from outside. I heard it again, louder this time, and I saw the others become aware of it. I walked over to the closest window and felt my eyes widen.

"Guys!" Jace was by my side in an instant.

His hand rested on my shoulder as he stared out the window in awe.

"No way," Isabelle said.

Outside the window, all there was was white. We couldn't even see a foot out of it. The white was swirling viciously around and around. Snow. A snow storm in New York City. The howling was the wind as it pushed against the walls of the Institute. I looked at Jace with wide eyes. He looked back at me in confusion.

"Snow?" he asked. I felt a small smile began to grow on my face. I turned to him, beaming.

"Snow! Yes! That means snowmen and snowball fights! A white Christmas."

Jace looked at me, the hint of a smile on his lips. I began to jump on the balls of my feet, wrapping my arms around his neck. I leaned up and kissed him before jumping away happily. I ran towards the door, grinning.

"Clary," Isabelle said. "I hate to burst your bubble, but that looks like a white-out. You should definitely not be going out in that."

Jace walked over to me. "She's right, Clary. Stay inside, okay? We can go outside in a while if it calms down." I pouted for a second but agreed. There was plenty of space by Luke's that we could go out and play in later. Jace promised me that we could before it melted and I perked up more.

But when, a few hours later, the storm hadn't calmed any, I began to worry. I checked the time and saw that it was six-thirty. I was supposed to have been leaving for Luke's already. Finally, I voiced my concerns. I didn't want them to think I was anxious to leave, but I knew that I needed to be with my mom soon.

Jace, looking outside for a minute, said that he would walk me home, since no cabs would be out. On the way to the exit, he pulled me into his room. He grabbed one of his leather coats and handed it to me. I wrapped it tightly around me and zipped it up. He then handed me a scarf and some gloves that I knew he kept in there only for me. Jace was always warm. Then he pulled a stele out. I raised an eyebrow.

"We're not going hunting, Jace."

"I know. I'm putting the thermal rune on us. It should keep us warm longer."

With two fresh runes and all bundled up, we headed out. As soon as we stepped out, my hair was flying around me, stinging like the lashes of a whip. The ferocity of the wind solicited a squeak from me as I was blown to the side and into Jace. He grabbed my shoulders firmly, keeping me from hitting the ground. I tried to force my hair out of my face, but it wouldn't stop swirling around like I was in the middle of a tornado. I tried to hold it back as Jace said something to me that was lost in the wind. I gave him a blank look, shivering already in spite of the rune that was placed on my upper arm. I couldn't see him clearly. I couldn't even see my own hand.

He wrapped his arm tightly around me, holding me to him as he turned and fumbled around before pushing me in front of him and back into the warmth of the Institute.

I looked up at him as he forced the door shut.

"That's not going to work," he said.

I frowned. "Clearly. I couldn't even see my own feet."

He narrowed his eyes at me playfully. "Are you getting cheeky with me on Christmas Eve?"

I grinned back at him. "Of course."

He shook his head, reaching out to shake snow from my hair. It was damp and sticking out all over now.

"That was cold," I said.

He chuckled. "Really? I hadn't noticed." I smacked him on the arm and frowned.

"I've got to call my mom. Do you think it'll calm down any time soon?"

"Honestly? I don't think so. It's really nasty out there." I sighed.

"Okay. I'm going to call my mom and tell her that we're stuck here for a while."

I pulled my phone out and dialed the familiar number, putting it to my ear.

It only rung once before she picked up.

"Mom?"

"Clary, I was just about to call you. Are you on your way?" I frowned.

"Mom, is it snowing there?"

I heard the confusion in her voice when she replied. "No. Why?"

"Because it's a white-out at the Institute. We can't even see a foot out."

"What? Did you try getting out in it? Is it safe?" I sighed.

"No, mom. Jace and I just tried to get out. There's no way. We got a step out and had to come back in. It's crazy."

"But sweetie, it's Christmas Eve..."

"I know, Mom. But there's nothing we can do. The wind is stronger than me."

We talked for another minute or so before we said goodbye. I looked at Jace.

"I guess I'm staying here tonight." I could see that he was fighting a smile, so I rolled my eyes. "I know you're happy, stop pretending."

He let himself smile then. "I'm sorry, but that's just the best thing I've heard in a long time." I snorted, walking up to the elevator. When we reached the library again, nobody looked particularly surprised to see us.

"Guess you didn't make it."

"Nope. We got one step out and had to come back," I responded, pulling Jace's jacket off and tossing it over the back of the couch. I set the scarf and gloves on top before sitting down.

Jace was beside me and we jumped into the conversation they had been having about Alec's questionable fashion choice. Somehow, it jumped from criticizing him to Isabelle complaining that I don't dress enough like a girl.

I frowned at her.

"How do I not dress like a girl?" She gave me a blank look.

"You were just wearing Jace's jacket." I raised a brow.

"I didn't bring one."

"When was the last time you wore a dress?" I blinked slowly.

"See! You don't even remember the last time you dressed up!"

I bit my lip, having no argument for that one.

"I think I should dress you up for tomorrow," she declared.

"No!" I shouted instantly. I felt Jace chuckled and turned to glare at him. "I swear to god, if you let her make me dress up, I'm going to let her make you eat her food." Jace's face turned horrified.

"Sorry Iz. Guess you're not getting her in a dress."

Isabelle narrowed her eyes at me. "I'll make sure it's _really_ short," she bargained.

"Isabelle," I said harshly. "You can't convince my boyfriend to help you by promising to dress me like a slut!"

"Well…" Jace said. I stood up, quick as a flick of Isabelle's whip and turned to face him. He as smirking at me as I glared down at him.

"This is a first, you being taller than me." I scoffed, turning around and walking over to the remaining empty chair.

"Pig," I spat. I crossed my arms over my chest, looking away from everyone.

I heard some laughter from everyone, but I didn't hear Jace's familiar, golden laugh. I felt a shadow fall over me, but didn't turn my head back to face him.

"Come on, Clary. I was just kidding. I'm not going to let Isabelle dress you like a slut." I huffed, still not facing him. I jumped when I felt myself lifted smoothly into the air. Before I knew it, I was seated in his lap, my back against his chest. I turned to glare at him, but before I could get anything out, he pressed his lips firmly against mine.

I tried to fight the urge to kiss him back, I seriously did. But it was impossible. When he finally pulled away, I had already forgotten why I was mad at him.

"So not fair," Isabelle said. "I can't just kiss her to get her to agree with me!" I gave Jace a sharp look as he opened his mouth, a suggestive smile on his lips already. He shut his mouth, grinning sheepishly at me.

"Sorry, I don't intend to share," he said after a few seconds. I knew it wasn't what he had intended to say originally.

"Good boy."

Our conversations flitted around from topic to topic after that. We discussed everything from my mom's wedding plans to a case that the Clave was currently reviewing. For the first time since I could remember, it didn't involve us at all. It seemed to me to be somewhat of a miracle.

By the time we had moved on to why bites from a werewolf seemed to change someone more than half the time, I was almost asleep. Jace wasn't helping, rubbing lazy circles on my back while I sat sideways in his lap. Finally, I gave up on trying to stay alert and buried my face into his chest, closing my eyes. It felt like a few seconds later, but was probably a lot longer, when Jace shook me awake, gently.

I blinked up at him drowsily.

"Come on. It's late, everyone else went to bed already." I looked around, slowly, to see that nobody was left in the room besides us.

I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Carry me?"

He nodded, leaning down to press his lips to my forehead before standing up smoothly, lifting me in his arms easily.

I must have fallen asleep on the way to his room because the next thing I remembered, I was resting up against his pillows while he searched through the drawers of his dresser. He turned to me, seeing that my eyes were open. He held out a t-shirt and ushered me into the bathroom to get changed. I did, quickly, and went back out, flipping the switch while I did. Jace watched me while I walked to the bed. He was sitting on the edge in just a pair of sweatpants, and even in my sleepy state, I couldn't help but admire him.

He smirked at me before moving to the opposite side to let me into the bed. I flicked the lights off before walking over, still able to see although not as well. I slid into the bed beside him, pulling the covers over me and snuggling into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, sighing. I placed a kiss on his chest before closing my eyes.

When I woke up, my brain was fuzzy and I felt extremely warm. Not uncomfortably, actually pretty much the opposite. I was so comfortable that I almost just slipped back into sleep. I shifted a little to get more comfortable, recognizing the comforting weight on my waist. My eyes flew open when I remembered where I had fallen asleep. Then I relaxed, cuddling further into Jace's warmth. Then I heard a low sigh and felt a kiss pressed against the top of my head.

"Izzy is going to kill us if we don't get up soon," he said mournfully.

I nodded. "Mm-hmm. Soon." I closed my eyes again and felt him chuckle before yawning.

"Uh-uh. Time to get up, sleeping beauty. It's Christmas." That perked me up. I pulled my head away from his chest, looking up at him with a grin.

"I forgot," I said.

"I figured. You want to get up now?" I nodded, excited to go see everyone. I had always enjoyed Christmas, and although I was kind of upset that I couldn't be with my mom and Luke, I was glad that I would get to spend it with the Lightwoods, especially Jace.

He released me and I tried to sit up, disentangling my legs from his. The bed was small, too small for two people, but that apparently hadn't been a problem.

I jumped to my feet, running to the dresser. I opened the top right drawer, the one Jace had emptied for me to keep some clothes in. I grabbed some clothes and ran excitedly to the bathroom. I changed hurriedly into a dark gray tank-top and blue skinny jeans and ripped a brush through my hair before pulling it up into a messy bun. I brushed my teeth and washed my face before exiting the bathroom. Jace was already dressed when I came out and I went to his closet where I knew that he would have hung up the jacket I'd worn the day before. I slipped it on and bent down to grab the wrapped packages I had hidden there the week before. Jace grabbed half of them, leaving me with just two to carry. We made our way to the library to be greeted by three expectant faces.

"Jeez. You're usually up before any of us, Jace," Isabelle complained as soon as we were within hearing range.

Jace just rolled his eyes, setting the presents under the tree, and I set mine beside it.

"I'm going to guess he's not up until ten thirty because he had his girlfriend in bed with him," Magnus said. I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing exactly how he meant that to sound.

"Haha," I said sarcastically.

He smirked at me. "What, don't want comments on your late-night activities?" I knew he was trying to embarrass me, but I refused to be brought down today.

"You know what, Magnus. Comment on my sex life all you want. It doesn't hurt me any," I said, holding my chin up as I almost pranced over to sit beside Jace.

Magnus was slent for a moment, clearly unsure how to respond.

"Well. Someone was busy last night." I Saw Jace biting his lip and I was unsure of what he was refraining from saying.

"Maybe, maybe not. You're not in a position where you need to know, so you're just going to have to guess."

Isabelle looked at me. "Well, you are in a particularly good mood today." I saw her looking at us the same way Magnus was. They thought I was in a good mood because Jace and I had slept together-the way that entailed more than just sleeping like we had done.

Honestly, I just really loved Christmas and for all I cared they could think I'd just jumped out of a plane, landing at the feet of some demon who I then killed with my bare hands. It was Christmas.

Isabelle elected herself to hand out presents and was crouched beside the plastic tree, pulling out presents. We had all agreed to put 'To and From' stickers on them so we could be properly grateful to the correct person. She handed the first present to me and I passed it over to Alec, then one to Jace, and it went on until all the presents had been handed out. Church was even resting with a couple beside him. He was staring blankly around at us, and I felt bad for the confused cat.

Isabelle had four presents, as did Magnus and Alec while Jace and I each had three. We had decided together that we would give each other our presents when we were alone.

Isabelle looked at us suspiciously. "Why do you guys have less?"

I told her why and she smirked. "Who's idea was that?" We both raised our hands like children in school and she snorted in laughter.

"You two are freaky."

I shrugged, snuggling more into Jace's warm side.

She picked up a present and started tearing at the paper on it. It was a box which she opened to reveal a pair of sleek, black heels. She squealed, pulling them out. I saw that the heel was shiny, glinting like silver. After a moment, I realized that it had been dipped in Electrum, the metal that harms demons.

"Thank you, Alec! I love you!" He smiled a little, rolling his eyes.

"it's just a pair of lethal heels. You have a ton."

"But none this stylish!" she argued.

I laughed lightly, Jace squeezing my hand as I did.

Alec and Magnus each opened one, Alec finding a knife with the Lightwood crest on it from Isabelle and Magnus finding a tube of glitter glue from Jace, which everyone-Magnus excluded-found hilarious.

When Isabelle told me to open hers first, I don't know what I expected. But it was _not_ what I found. I pulled the lid off of a brightly colored box, my jaw dropping. I stared for probably and full minute before I closed my eyes.

"Go put it on!" Isabelle urged. I looked at her straight in the eyes.

"Isabelle, you know I love you like a sister. But I will not wear this. This is not a dress. It is a short shirt." I slapped the lid back on as Jace tried to peek at it.

"Come on," she pleaded. "Please?" I groaned, looked at Jace.

"What happened to not letting her dress me like a slut?" he smirked.

"Isabelle, I think it should wait until a more _proper_ time," I suggested. "Like, if we go to Pandemonium or something. Then I promise, I will wear it. But if my mom shows up here and I'm wearing this, she will _flip_ _out_." Jace looked at me curiously.

"How bad could it be?" I looked at him pointedly.

"You're not finding out."

Isabelle finally relented, making me promise to wear it next time we went somewhere it would be appropriate.

Jace opened one next, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he pulled out a flower, its petals wickedly sharp. I could see that the ends were pointed like the tip of a knife and I was confused before I realized that it was glass, sharpened to points. It looked just like a tiger lily, but lethal. I looked at it, confused. Jace looked at me with grin.

"It's a type of weapon. You're supposed to break a petal off and throw it. Whoever it cuts gets infected with a deadly toxin. The flower is just a way to disguise it." I looked at it more carefully now, seeing a pale blue liquid residing inside the confines of the flower petals.

Isabelle looked proud. "Those things are damn hard to find, too. So don't use it all up in a week."

The next presents were a bottle of expensive perfume to Isabelle from Magnus, an expensive suit to Alec from Magnus, and a hard-to-find herb that Magnus said was for a spell he wanted to test. He got it from Alec. And from Magnus, I got a box of band-aids, which caused me to crack up. He said that now instead of bothering him every time I got a boo-boo I could heal myself. Magnus also gave Jace a cat toy, a running joke since Chairman Meow and Church both pretty much hate him. I found that almost as funny as the band-aids.

Isabelle's present from me was a cook book, which was meant as a joke that she took seriously. I think we were all trying hard not to laugh. Alec got a sign that you could hang on a door saying 'DO NOT ENTER'. I saw him start to smile and cut him off.

"No. I am not even joking. You two definitely need one of those." Everyone agreed, including Magnus.

For Magnus, I ironically bought a nurse's hat, which he did _not_ find as amusing as everyone else. Alec's gift to me topped off the day so far. When I ripped the paper off, I felt my eyes drawn to the shimmering words written on the cover. It was a black book and in silver letter was the words 'Gray book'. I looked up at him in awe. "But I thought that these were ridiculously hard to get."

He nodded. "They are. It was kind of a group effort, really. It was Jace's idea, but he didn't think it could actually be done. But Magnus had some connections that I convinced him to use, and now you have your very own gray book."

I beamed widely at him. "Thank you so much. Seriously. This is amazing."

By the time we had all opened our presents, it was nearly twelve. We waited about half an hour before Jace and I headed up to his room to exchange our presents. I slipped under the bed a little and grabbed the box I had hidden there before and stood up. He laughed, shaking his head.

"I should have known you would hide it in here."

We sat down on the bed and swapped the boxes. His box was long and rectangular while mine was a square shape.

When I opened the black, velvet box, my eyes widened. My hand flew up to my mouth as I stared at the object. I felt Jace watching me carefully as I reached gingerly for the gift.

I pulled out a stele, about the exact length of one of my sketching pencils. It was smoothly rounded at the tip, the adamas absolutely flawless. It had graceful, swirling lines spiraling around it in a silvery metal. The handle was perfectly rounded and I could see tiny silver leaves etched into the surface. I saw familiar runes carved beautifully into it. On one side, the rune of angelic power was engraved, and on the other, the rune of love. I felt my eyes start to burn. It was the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, and I know he had chosen a stele specifically for me because of my power with runes. I looked up at him, tears threatening to spill. He looked panicked for a second, as though thinking that I didn't like it. Then I lunged forward, wrapping my arms so tight around him that my muscles ached.

"I love it. I love you. I love you so much. It's beautiful." My voice was a whisper, emotion choking out my voice.

He pushed me away a little to look down at me with a smile. "I'm glad you like it. I had it done custom. Usually steles are longer, but I figured it would be easier to handle if it was the same size as your pencils. There's no stele like it anywhere. The design is unique in every way."

I smiled at him before looking back down at the beautiful object.

"Open yours," I finally ordered.

He did as I said, and I saw his eyes widen. He pulled the ring out of the box, looking at me in shock.

"No, I'm not asking you to marry me. It's just a ring," I said, smiling a little.

He looked back down at it, taking in all the details. It was thick, and the top was rounded, the letters J and C overlapping, the J in bold font and the C in a dainty, thinner font. Along the sides of the band on both sides of the top was a cluster of stars. He looked at me in amazement.

"Clary, it's amazing. Did you get this made for us?" I nodded, smiling in relief that he liked it. He pointed at the stars along the side. "Is this for what I think it is?"

"The sun and the other stars," I responded with a grin. "I used the Morgenstern ring to get the right size, so it should fit." He slipped it onto his middle finger and it fit him perfectly, which was good because if it had been done wrong, there would be some hell to pay.

We stayed in his room for another half an hour, just lying together and enjoying each other's company. When I finally decided that my mom was going to _flip_ if I didn't get to Luke's soon, we headed out, walking through the sloppily cleared city sidewalks.

When we finally made it to Luke's house, I realized that the storm must have reached there at some point. The white powder was hardening now, and I knew it would be perfect for a snowman or snowball fight. It was a little above my ankles in the deep places. I stepped in the door, slipping my boots off. Jace did the same beside me and I breathed in the scent of cooking ham and cinnamon. There were Christmas lights up all around and I saw that the tree had new presents under it.

"Mom! Luke! I'm back!" My mom rushed out of the kitchen and engulfed me in a giant bear hug.

"Oh, sweetie, I was so worried. Merry Christmas." I laughed at her weird change of topic. That's Jocelyn for you.

"Merry Christmas, Mom." She pulled away, noticing Jace for the first time. She gave him a polite smile.

"Hello, Jace. Do you two want to come out in the kitchen? Luke is helping me make dinner." I nodded and grabbed Jace's hand. We walked out into the kitchen and Luke turned to smile at me, his glasses fogged from the steam rising from the pot he was stirring.

"Hey, kiddo, Jace. Are you staying for dinner?" Jace looked to me, and I looked to my mom.

My mom shrugged. "If you want to stay, you're welcome," she said to Jace. I was surprised, but not too much. My mom was a lot like me on Christmas-really, really, happy.

"Thank you," Jace said with a smile.

"Mom," I said urgently, once there was silence. "You have to see what Jace got me." I pulled the stele out of my belt gingerly and held it out for her to see. She gasped as she looked at it, reaching out to pick it up gently. She looked closely at the design, and the runes and I saw her smile in awe of the magnificent workmanship.

She handed it back to me and I slid it carefully back into my belt.

"It's beautiful. It must have cost you a fortune," she said.

Jace shrugged, smiling lightly. "It's worth it to see how happy she is to use it." I leaned up on my very tip-toes to kiss his cheek. I could barely make it and he laughed, stooping down to return a peck on the cheek. I huffed, but still couldn't stop smiling. I had used the stele already, multiple times. I was trying to find any excuse to use it. I had put thermal runes on both of us, not allowing Jace to do his own.

I saw Luke smiling at us wistfully.

A few minutes later, I had drug Jace out the back door and into the snow beyond. I was armed against the cold with one of my own jackets this time, a leather one that Simon had bought me as a joke. I wore it frequently now. I had gloves and a bright green scarf wrapped around my neck. I raced out into the slightly crunchy snow, kicking it up behind me. The end of my scarf trailed behind me. Jace followed me out, more slowly. I stopped at a random point in the yard and turned to face him. He raised a golden eyebrow, his hands in his pockets.

"I wanna build a snowman, right here." He gave me an odd look.

"Why right there?"

"Because," I said vaguely, giving him a cheeky smile.

His mouth twisted up into a grin as he watched me drop down into the snow. I crouched on the balls of my feet and grabbed a handful of snow. I clumped it together tightly then dropped it back into the snow. I pushed it forward a few feet then stood up, walked over, and did it again. I did this for a minute or so before I stood up and raised my eyebrows at him, spreading my arms at my sides.

"Are you going to help? Get started on the middle piece," I demanded. He twisted his mouth to the side, biting his lip a little.

I looked at him, concerned. "Jace?" I crunched through the snow until I reached him. He grabbed my hand, giving me a small smile.

"I've never made a snowman before. You're going to need to teach me," he admitted. I smiled back at him.

"Jace Lightwood, admitting that he doesn't know how to do something. I never thought I would see the day! Come on." I tugged him over to the snowball I had made, about the size of my head now. I crouched next to it, grabbing a handful of snow.

"Okay, so you take a handful," I said, dumping it into his cupped hands. "Then pack it tight." He did as I said. "Now you roll it around in the snow until it gets bigger—just a little smaller than the one I'm going to be finishing. Then you plop it on top of the bottom. Which is where you come in very handy, because I'm too short to put the head on."

He smirked before he nodded and pushed the small ball of snow away. I smiled and turned back to my piece.

When it was a decent size, I pushed it to where I wanted it, struggling a little to get it to move.

When I finally got it where I wanted it, I stood up straight, grinning proudly. I turned to see Jace smiling at me. "Were you having some trouble?" I glared at him playfully.

"Oh, just put the middle piece on." He saluted goofily at me before picking up the piece he had made.

With a little guidance from me, he set the middle piece on. He stepped back, watching it warily. When it didn't move, he smiled at me.

"Ha. See, I can make a snowman." I clapped sarcastically, although I couldn't help the smile it brought to my face to be able to teach him something that he never got to do as a kid.

"Good job. Now we need to make the head." He nodded and bent down to get a handful, as I showed him before. He packed it down and rolled it.

"I'm going to go see what I can get from my mom for it," I told him before rushing in the back door. I let it fall shut behind me and stepped into the kitchen.

"Mom, do you have anything for a snowman?" She turned to me with a smile.

"You two are making a snowman?" I nodded, repeating my question.

She put her hands on her hip, looking up in thought. "I might have a hat from when you were younger. Hold on." She stepped away and I peered out the window to see Jace lifting the head onto the middle piece. I smiled, watching him. His hair was in his face and his eyes were practically glowing as he stepped back to admire his work. I felt my mom's hand rest on my shoulder and I turned to face her.

"You know, he's never made a snowman before."

She didn't look particularly shocked.

"Being raised by Valentine, I imagine that there's a lot of things that he never got to do as a child that others did," she said sadly.

I frowned a little, and barely refrained from making a comment about an experience with a five-year old Jace, some pasta, and a bathtub. Then I smiled when I caught sight of a familiar top hat.

"Oh my god, is this the one we used when I was little?" She nodded, smiling brightly.

"I found it in the hall closet." I took it from her and gave her a quick hug before running out to rejoin Jace.

I paused when I was a few feet away, stopping so suddenly that my feet almost slipped in the snow.

"Jace…" I said, looking at what he had done.

I had looked away from the window for _two minutes_.

He turned to me, beaming. "It's almost finished."

I saw how proud he was, and bit my lip, trying to decide whether to point out that snowmen were not supposed to have seraph blades for arms.

I finally just smiled, shaking my head. "You're supposed to use sticks for the arms. But hey, since when do we ever do what we're supposed to?" And I walked up to the snowman, pulled a witchlight stone from my pocket, and stuck it into the snowman while it was glowing. "Do you have another one?" I asked him. He laughed loudly before pulling a glowing stone from his pocket.

He handed it to me and I shoved it into the snowman's face. "Now he's got eyes."

He smiled at me, grabbing the hat from me and peering at it.

"Is this what your mom gave you to use?" I nodded.

"It's the one we've used since I can remember," I said. He reached out and placed it securely on the top of the snowman. I narrowed my eyes at it and he looked at me in curiosity.

"It's taller than me now." He laughed again, pulling me into his chest and kissing the top of my head.

"I love you so damn much," he said, holding me to him tightly. I wrapped my arms around his back, smiling into him.

"I love you too."

We stood there for a while, just looking at the odd little snowman we had created. And it reminded me of us, of all the people in our life. We were odd, unique, and you wouldn't think we would fit together—like a top hat and seraph blades—but we did. We all fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and we would fight to the death to keep it that way.

So our snowman kept its seraph blade arms and witchlight eyes. Because who needs normal when you've got a completely weird, completely perfect life already?

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	3. I Do

**Hey guys :) I just wanna say thanks for all the amazing reviews I received last chapter. You're all amazing and hearing from people brightens my day so much!**

**I hope you enjoy this one. It wasn't a submission, just an idea I've had for a while now. **

**Hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

"I do."

There were cheers from the gathered family and friends as the couple kissed on the alter. They pulled away and smiled goofily at each other. Happy tears were shed by the guests and wedding parties.

The best man and maid of honor grinned at each other from where they stood to the side of the groom and bride.

The maid of honor was wearing a golden dress, her shoulders bare in the strapless dress. A dainty chain glittered around her neck against the setting sunlight. A pair of flats adorned her feet, heels having been vehemently declined by the girl. The best man watched her as the now wedded couple left the alter. He held out his arms for her when they met right before stepping out onto the aisle. She took it, her bright green eyes glittering. His golden ones looked down at her happily.

"You know, you're not supposed to be prettier than the bride," he whispered in her ear. She laughed quietly.

"Hush. We're supposed to be quiet until we reach the…" she looked panicked for a second. "Crap, where are we supposed to be going?" Jace chuckled at her.

"We're supposed to follow your mom and Luke." She nodded, looking relieved. "Good thing one of us listened during the rehearsal."

Clary gaped at him, now out of sight of everyone else and allowed to talk to her boyfriend.

"You didn't listen at all! You were distracting me the whole time!" He smirked.

"Then how come I remembered where we were supposed to go?" Clary huffed at him, straightening his tie as they reached her parents.

"Probably because you managed to absorb it while you were whispering in my ear or making faces the whole time," she replied, placing her hands on her hips with narrowed eyes.

The newly married couple watched the two with amusement as Clary chastised her boyfriend for something unbeknownst to them. Her cheeks were heating up and she raised a hand to point at him, her temper rising. He grabbed her hand with a light laugh, pulling her to him.

"Clary, Jace," Jocelyn called from where she stood with her new husband. "It's time for pictures."

Clary looked away from Jace and turned to her mother with a nod. "Okay."

The wedding party was rather tiny, just a maid of honor and a best man. Jocelyn, of course, had chosen her daughter as her maid of honor. Luke, however, had surprised Jace with the offer of best man. Clary had been delighted for both of them, knowing that Luke liked to think of Jace as his son and vice versa.

The pictures took about half an hour, pictures of all four of them as well as pictures of the separate couples and then just one at a time. They did all different things for them and Clary's cheeks were hurting from the smiling by the time they were done.

"I think my face is frozen like this," she complained to her mom as she rubbed her sore cheeks while on the way to the reception. She just laughed, patting her daughter on the back. Jace swooped in, pecking her cheek.

"I don't think I'd be able to take you seriously when you make me apologize for insulting Isabelle's cooking if your face was frozen like that." The redhead laughed loudly, her head tipping back.

"Like you take me seriously anyway," she joked. Jace wrapped an arm around her shoulders, grinning widely.

"I do, too! When you're legitimately angry you are scary as hell," he said with a small smirk.

She rolled her eyes and followed Jocelyn and Luke to the table at the front of the room. Jace sat beside Clary. Jocelyn was seated at Clary's other side with Luke's arm around her. Jace watched his girlfriend with happy, glowing eyes as she talked animatedly to her mother. Her vivid hair was falling from its clips and she pushed a few strands out of her face impatiently.

He felt a tap on his suit clad shoulder, and turned to see Alec.

"Hey, wanna go get something to drink?" Jace took a quick look at Clary, still talking with Luke and Jocelyn, and nodded. He stood up, smiling when Clary laughed at something Luke said, her eyes closing as she nearly doubled over.

He followed Alec to the bar, where he ordered a beer and Jace ordered a soda. Alec laughed at his _parabatai_'s choice and the blonde boy rolled his eyes.

"Clary would kill me if I got drunk at her mother's wedding. Besides, I happen to like pepsi," Jace said, grabbing his drink and sticking his tongue out. The bartender winked at him as she slipped a piece of paper over next to his drink.

Jace raised a brow at the digits written on it and Alec began laughing, rolling his eyes. "Oh, that's got to be killing you, knowing you can't use that."

Jace rolled his eyes and was about to speak when he felt two slender arms wrap around his waist. He turned with a smile to see Clary peering around his shoulder, looking up at him.

"Hey beautiful," he greeted. She smiled and her cheeks flushed ever so slightly.

"Hey yourself. I thought I lost you," she joked, her bright eyes sparkling.

"Just went to get a drink," he responded as she moved away to stand in front of the two boys. She looked to Alec.

"Where's Magnus? I saw you guys together at the ceremony."

"The bathroom. Even warlocks have to use it, you know," he joked. Clary rolled her eyes, smacking his arm lightly.

"Duh." Clary pointed to the pepsi.

"Is that yours?" she asked Jace. He nodded and handed the glass to her. She took a drink and handed it back. Jace was leaning back against the bar beside Alec when Clary caught sight of the phone number by her boyfriend's arm.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you think you could be less attractive? Just for one night?" He smirked, chuckling.

"Now how would that be any fun? Then people would be hitting on poor Alec instead." She laughed, the sound tinkling and causing Jace to smile.

When the blonde bartender returned, she gave Jace a flirty smile before asking Clary if she wanted anything.

"No, I'm fine," she declined politely.

"You sure?" She nodded.

"How 'bout you, handsome? You want something?" The flirty tone to her voice implied that she wasn't just asking about drinks. Jace was about to decline as well when Clary snapped at the woman.

"How about you go serve those people over there?" She asked, pointing to a couple of werewolves from Luke's pack across the bar. "They've been sitting there for a while now so you should probably go figure out what they want instead of flirting with my boyfriend." She pushed the slip of paper back at the blonde, who scraped it off the counter before storming away. Clary just huffed and turned to lean her back against Jace's chest.

"Well," Magnus said, suddenly appearing at his boyfriend's elbow. "That was interesting."

Jace chuckled, leaning down to rest his chin on Clary's head. "Are you jealous, Clarissa?" Magnus asked with a smirk. Clary glared at him.

"Jealousy implies that I have something to worry about. I trust Jace, and that bimbo," she pointed to the bartender, who was now serving the couple Clary had pointed out, "is _nothing_ to worry about."

Jace laughed above her. "Where did this sudden confidence come from?"

She smirked up at him.

"You trained me yourself. I highly doubt that you would risk doing something that would make me that angry. I could kill you the second you turned around to look at another girl."

Jace's face looked shocked and even a little frightened for a second before smiling. "That's my girl."

"Besides," she said with a smile. "You love me too much." He nodded in agreement with a bright smile.

"You bet I do." He bent to press his lips to hers and she responded quickly.

Alec nearly laughed out loud when he saw the bartender glaring daggers at Jace's back. I heard Magnus clear his throat loudly and realized why when I saw Luke and Jocelyn heading this way. Clary pulled back, her cheeks bright red. She tried to step back, but Jace held her firmly by the waist as he glared at Magnus.

"What?" he snapped.

"Hello, Magnus, Alec!" Jace froze when he heard Jocelyn's voice and looked to the side to see her standing there with her groom by her side. Alec and Magnus said their hellos and congratulations. Magnus then launched Jocelyn into a conversation about the decorations. Luke eyed Jace's hands where they rested on his stepdaughter's waist, but didn't say anything. Clary grinned at him.

"How does being married feel?" her new stepfather mirrored her expression.

"Terrific," he replied, smiling happily at his wife.

The two eventually migrated away from them, moving around the room to talk with everyone. The little group stayed by the bar for a little longer before Clary became aware of the fact that her life was in danger as the bartender sliced a lime up right beside her hand which was resting on the bar. The shadowhunter girl glared harshly at the mundane before she grabbed Jace's hand and pulled him with her away from the bar. Magnus and Alec followed them with some amused chuckles. They all sat down at a table that Jocelyn had set up for them. Clary had been overjoyed to hear that she and Jace would have two seats—one for their places as the maid of honor and best man, and one for during the dining where they could join their friends. Almost immediately after they all sat down, Isabelle had raced over and launched herself into her seat beside her friend.

"Clary! Are you having fun being the maid of honor? Oh my angel I'm so jealous. I would love to be in a maid of honor! And Jace is the best man! It's soooo sweet!" It was clear to Clary that Isabelle was definitely tipsy and on her way to becoming completely drunk. Poor Simon would probably have to take care of her tonight. "When you and Jace get married, I hope Si and I are in it!" She sighed wistfully, leaning sloppily on one hand. "When are you two getting married, anyway? I need to buy a dress."

Clary's eyebrows shot up. The couple hadn't spoken a word of marriage, even with the matrimony of Clary's mom. It just hadn't come up. Ever. Clary didn't even think Jace even _wanted _to get married someday. And when? _Hell, I'm only seventeen,_ Clary thought. Isabelle looked at the girl expectantly, one eyebrow raised. She sputtered for a minute, trying to come up with a response as her best girlfriend looked at her. Jace, who had been talking with Alec and Magnus about some place they had visited, leaned over to look between the two girls.

"Isabelle, why does Clary look green?" he asked, resting his hand comfortingly on his girlfriend's shoulder.

"I asked when you two are getting married," she said, turning her expectant look to him. I heard Magnus let out a low whistle.

"Be careful how you answer this. What you say could make her face become less green in two different ways. Let's try not to make it in the way that she's going to owe Isabelle a new pair of shoes." Alec slapped him on the arm.

"Be nice, she's the maid of honor." Magnus just rolled his eyes playfully at his boyfriend. Finally, Jace seemed capable of creating a response.

"Whenever we're both ready to. We're only seventeen, Isabelle."

"Yeah, but you're going to be eighteen next week!" She cried, pointing a finger in her adopted brother's face. "A lot of Shadowhunters have gotten married already!"

Clary looked like someone had just snapped her arm the wrong direction and showed it to her.

"Jesus, Isabelle!" She finally cried out. "We're not getting married next week! Probably not next month! I don't know when. I don't know if we both even _want_ to get married! And besides that, I don't know if Shadowhunter weddings even have maid of honors, but you bet your ass if they do then you're going to be my maid of honor."

Isabelle blinked at her friend in shock for a minute before squealing happily and racing off, perfectly steady on her six inch heels. Clary looked after her in amazement, shaking her head a little. Her curls bounced on her shoulders and her boyfriend put an arm around her shoulders, turning her to look at him. When bright green met gold, he spoke.

"You want a Shadowhunter wedding?" he asked, trying to fight off the broad grin in case he heard wrong. She nodded, her curls bouncing again.

"Duh. We're both Shadowhunters, aren't we?" The grin broke free and Jace reached for his girlfriend, hugging her to him tightly. She laughed, pecking him on the lips before pulling away.

"I know, but I just figured that, you know, you'd want a mundane wedding since you were raised one," Jace said.

"She isn't a mundane, Jace Lightwood!" Magnus interjected. "She will not want a mundane wedding."

Clary smirked, shaking her head. "Thanks, Magnus. You really cleared that up." Then she turned to Jace. "My mom would probably want me to have one, but I wouldn't. I'm not a mundane anymore." She smiled with a shrug. "We could probably have a super tiny mundane ceremony so that my mom could see me in a mundane wedding, but the real thing would be the Shadowhunter one. Does that mean that you _do_ want to get married someday?"

Jace scoffed, worrying her for a second. "Duh! How the hell could I not marry you? I love you too much to not make you mine in every way possible." Magnus coughed to cover up a laugh and Clary muttered something along the lines of childish moron. "You think I could ever let you go to Idris again without a rune to tell everyone to stay away? You're a hero, you'd have guys chasing you all over," he said with a strange mixture of a scowl and a smile. "The runes would keep them all away."

She laughed, her head tipping back ever so slightly. "And you wouldn't be having anymore girls hitting on you. Your ego might actually deflate some," she said, pretending to be shocked. He laughed too.

"Please. You know that they'd still be hitting on me." He gestured to his chest. "Look at me." Clary scoffed.

"I do. And they'd stop the first time I was around when they did it. They'd have one less hand," she said darkly.

"Woah, our little Clare-bear is becoming as violent as the rest of you little bastards," Magnus commented.

They continued on without any more talk of weddings, although Jace had pulled Clary's seat much closer, and their hands were clasped together tightly. Well, there was no more talk of weddings until Jocelyn came over to sit beside her daughter for a moment.

"Jocelyn, your daughter is getting married the mundane way!" Isabelle squealed as soon as the bride sat down. Her eyes widened and they flew to Clary and Jace, who looked immediately terrified.

"Clarissa Adele Fray, you are _seventeen years old_!" She shrieked. Clary immediately started shaking her head.

"No, no Mom, I'm not getting married right now. We were just talking about what kind of wedding I want and Isabelle is drunk so she thinks that means that we're getting married next week," she corrected quickly. Jocelyn was visibly calmer then, her hand going to her heart.

"Oh, thank god. You scared me," she said. Then after a pause, she added, "You're going to have a mundane wedding?" Her eyes were hopeful and Clary felt bad, wishing that Isabelle hadn't said anything.

"Kind of," she said, running her fingers through her curls. "We were talking about a full Shadowhunter wedding with the runes and everything, then maybe exchanging rings at a little mundane reception for just family and close friends," she said, hoping her mom would be satisfied.

She looked a little disappointed but smiled. "Are you talking about doing the mundane reception for me?" She asked.

Clary nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I figured you'd want to see me in a white dress and everything," she said. Jocelyn's eyes were shining.

"Oh, sweetie. You're the best daughter a woman could ask for." And she wrapped her arms around Clary, blinking back happy tears.

About an hour later, they announced that it was time for speeches. So Jace and Clary took their seats at their 'table of honor' as Magnus had called it. Jace did his speech first, smiling through the whole thing, not the least bit nervous.

"I couldn't be happier for Jocelyn and Luke today. We've all been through one big hell these last few months, and everyone had their own personal hells. Luke and Jocelyn, I think, had one of the worst parts, the parents of the girl who was running around doing stupid things and almost getting herself killed most of the time. I would say that I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to be close to someone so impulsive with no sense of keeping herself safe, but I know exactly what it's like to be close to her." He looked pointedly down at me and I blushed, hiding my face while the audience chuckled.

"But Jocelyn and Luke had to watch someone they'd raised change drastically over a few months, they saw her at her worst and best and they've been there to support her through it all, even when they didn't agree with what she was doing. They've always done their best to keep her safe, to protect her and keep her strong.

These two kept everyone sane, even when the circumstances weren't even close to that. Without Jocelyn and Luke, I think a lot of us wouldn't be here today. I know without Luke, I probably wouldn't be. Luke was there to be a father to me when I was in a bad place. He helped me, he kept me from doing something stupid. Even when I picked a fight with half of his pack, he still defended me. So, although I've had or have been told I've had, at least three different fathers, Luke is most definitely my only real father. I hope for the best for both of you," he finished.

Clary could see a lot of misty eyes and Luke was biting his lip while Jocelyn's eyes actually did tear up. Clary stood up nervously, wiping at her eyes and glaring down at Jace.

"How am I supposed to talk now that you made me cry?" Laughter came from guests and she pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. It had fallen out of the complicated updo long ago.

"So, I've been waiting for this for pretty much my whole life. Since I can remember, Luke's always been a father to me, and my mother has always been the best one that I could ask for. It's the only combination that would make sense. I-I know that I've been pretty much the biggest pain in the butt that you've had to deal with and I wish I had been better about what happened." Jace grabbed my hand when it started to shake and I took a deep breath.

"You've been trying your hardest to protect me since I was little, and I just brushed it all off. You've always kept me safe and I know the past few months have been the hardest of your life. Because when you weren't able to be there, I changed from your little girl into a Shadowhunter who was determined to save the whole world. And, like Jace said, you two have had the worst positions. You got to watch me do dangerous, impulsive things, but you couldn't do anything to stop me. I did what I thought needed to be done and I didn't listen to anyone else. It was a pretty naïve way to do things and there's so many things I wish I could go back and change. I wish I could go back and not run away before any of this happened. I wish I could go back and listen to Jace when he was trying to help me when we first met instead of scratching him and running away." There was laughter at that and I saw Jace shake his head with a smile.

"I wish I could go back to that night in Renwick's and kill Valentine before he had a chance to do everything he did. I wish I could go back to when I was trying to find Ragnor Fell and stab Sebastian—maybe a few times. But I can't, so instead I'm just going to be glad for all the stupid, impulsive things that we all did, because all those little things we did led to this, to us all being here celebrating together, _alive_. The Angel knows that if hadn't run from Jace and gotten attacked by that Ravener we might've never found out I was a Shadowhunter. And if Jace hadn't been impulsive enough at the same time, I might've died right there. So going back, there's nothing I would've changed. Everything that happened led us here to being happy today. We all make mistakes, but there is no way that this will be one of them. This has been love in the making since…whenever you guys met. And even though you've had your ups and downs, you've always been there for each other and it's why you're going to have such a strong love now."

I held up my glass with a teary smile and I saw others follow suit.

"To Jocelyn and Luke."

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	4. Piano

**I know it's short but I feel like sometimes short ones are just as good as long ones :)**

**This idea came from a review by ****Jace-that is all**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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The tinkling sound of the piano filled the Institute as I continued to slash at the training dummy set up in front of me. By now its stuffing innards were sticking out from multiple gashes to all different body parts. I spun quickly, the blade outstretched in my hand. The stuffed head hit the wooden floor of the training room with a dull thump.

I stood up straight, pushing loose strands of hair from my eyes. I let the blade—a silver one that I'd found in the weapons room—drop to my side, tipping my head a little in an attempt to hear better. A smile sipped onto my lips easily as I listened to the melody drifting through the air. I set the weapon down carefully, walking around the training dummy. I got dressed quickly, taking my hair out so that I could put it up again more tightly.

Just as I succeeded in getting my hair out of my face and off the back of my neck, I had reached the music room. I paused for a moment outside the door, listening to the notes flowing from the instrument, before pushing it open quietly and stepping in. I saw Jace, his fingers skimming over the keys expertly, sitting on the piano bench. His light hair was slipping into his eyes, but he didn't pause to brush it away.

I stepped further into the room, smiling when he looked up at me. His fingers ceased their movements, the music stopping abruptly.

"No, don't stop," I said, smiling at him before moving to sit next to him on the bench.

I scooted as close as to him as I could without hindering his movement and he began to play again. I watched the graceful movement of his fingers with keen interest. When the song ended, he wrapped his arms around my waist, turning me to look at him. He smiled softly at me, his eyes luminous in the slightly dim lighting.

"You're amazing at that, you know," I stated, looking back at the keys when he smirked.

"I'm amazing at everything, why would playing the piano be the exception?" I rolled my eyes, chuckling a little.

"You're supposed to say thank you," I scolded jokingly. He just laughed, tightening his arms around me.

"Come here," he said, not giving me a chance to respond before pulling me into his lap. I squeaked quietly and he chuckled, pulling me back against his chest so that we were both facing the piano.

The top of my head fit right under his chin and he grabbed my hands, placing them over the keys. Jace placed a kiss on the top of my head before speaking.

"Do you want to learn how to play?" I nodded hesitantly. I'd never played an instrument unless you counted the recorders we were forced to play in third grade. And I wouldn't count that since all I did was hit Nancy Porter with it for stealing Simon's comic book.

His fingers covered mine and he spread my hands out a little more. He pressed down a few keys with my fingers, explaining the first keys to learn and how the keys were set up. After a while, I had a basic understanding of the piano.

He began a simple tune, using my fingers to press into the keys. It was something like twinkle twinkle little star, but not quite. Even in its simplicity it was beautiful.

"What song is this? I've never heard it before."

"It's a song Maryse used to sing to Alec and I when we were little. It's sung in French, but the tune of it is simple to learn. I thought it would be a good song for you to learn to play with." I smiled, and after a minute, I felt Jace's hand slip around my waist.

My fingers stopped moving as I realized that I'd just played a good part of the song without his aid. I tipped my head back to look at him and he grinned down at me.

"Who knew I could play an instrument?" I joked, turning a little to press my lips to his. I turned back to the piano, trying to maneuver my fingers back onto the proper spots.

Once I finally got them in the correct place, I tried to replicate the repetitive song. I got it close, and Jace's hands slid over mine again to correct some mistakes. I had a feeling that the song was played a lot faster than what I was playing it, but Jace was keeping it beginner level for me.

Not long after, I slipped my hands out from under his.

"You play it. I want to hear how it's supposed to sound," I said softly, leaning back against him.

He leaned down to rest his head on my shoulder before he began to play. The melody was beautiful, and I was right that it was supposed to be faster, but not much. His fingers moved smoothly over the keys, familiarly.

I closed my eyes, smiling. The sound of the piano was beautiful, causing my heart to flutter a little at the thought that it was _my_ boyfriend creating something so beautiful.

"What are you smiling about?" Jace whispered in my ear, the music halting once again. I tried to force the goofy smile from my lips, but I couldn't manage it so I just let myself beam at him.

"You."

"What about me?" He asked, grabbing one of my hands in his own.

"I get you," I replied, tipping my head back so that I could see him. My neck was craned at an almost painful angle and Jace pushed my head back down with a grin.

"I know I'm beautiful, but you shouldn't snap your neck to look at me."

I rolled my eyes, reaching for the piano to press a few keys randomly. He pressed his lips to my shoulder, his arms going around my waist again as I played with a few of the keys.

"Think you could play it?" He asked quietly. I bit my lip for a second.

"I can try." This time, my fingers found the correct places much easier. I let my fingers move over the keys with little thought, trusting my fingers to remember their prior movements better than my brain.

I got through the short song with only a few mistakes. It wasn't really as much of an achievement as it sounds, since the song consists of about six keys in total and was pretty repetitive, but I was proud and so was Jace.

"You'll be playing perfectly in no time at all," he praised.

I let him take over the piano then, just sitting with him and enjoying the calming music he created. I wasn't sure how much of it he was reading from sheet music and how much from memory, but I didn't hear any rustling papers so I assumed at least the majority of it was memory. I could only be amazed that he was able to do so much amazing, physical fighting, and then turn around and play a piano as soft and beautifully as a professional.

It was still a shock to me when I realized that I was _dating_ this beautiful, talented boy. It was a wonder, how I had managed to end up with him, how he had managed to fall in love with me, of all the girls in the world.

But although there was sometimes the question of _why, _there was never the question of _if_. I knew that he loved me, I didn't doubt it in the slightest. I love him with all my heart and he returns the feelings with everything in him.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had lived somewhere else, if another Institute found me, if I had never met Jace. But I never wonder for long, for two reasons. One being that it was like a stab to the chest, thinking of a life without him, and the second reason was the plain fact that _I didn't need to_. We'd found each other. So it didn't matter what could have happened if we hadn't. Because we had.

I loved him and he loved me back and that's all there is to it, all we need to know. So why question or complicate something so simple and wonderful? We don't need _why'_s or _what if_'s because it is the way it is, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

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	5. Ice Skating

**I just wanted to say thank you for all the amazing reviews I've received on this :) I really enjoy reading them. They make my day soooo much better! So here's a special thank you to everyone who's reviewed! I love you guys. **

**Just writing these is so much fun and it's even better to see that you enjoy them too. **

**This is an idea I've had for a while. Please excuse any mistakes in technique or anything in the skating. All I know about skating is how to do it. I literally just learned how to stop the stupid skates when we went ice skating last week. Yeah. But hooray for hockey stops! Once you learn them they're a lot of fun :)**

**Hope you enjoy this!**

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Sometimes I think I have bad ideas.

Jace will probably agree whole-heartedly on that. But I thought that ice skating was one of my better ones. Jace didn't.

"No. No way. You're clumsy enough on solid ground in secure footwear. I don't need you breaking an arm because you were trying to balance on _ice_ on one a flimsy piece of metal." I scowled at him, wishing that he would put a shirt on so I would stop having to force my eyes back up to his.

"I'm not going to break my arm! I've been ice skating before, you know!" I crossed my arms over my chest, tearing my eyes back up to his face for what felt like the twentieth time in five minutes. It probably was. "And put a goddamn shirt on!"

It happened to be just then that Izzy stepped in through Jace's open door.

"Whoa. What did I just walk into?" Her eyes were wide and her lips pursed as she looked at us, facing off on opposite sides of the bed. I whipped around to face her.

"He won't go ice skating with me. And he won't put a shirt on so that I can argue my point correctly." I could practically _feel_ Jace's smirk on the back of my head. I held my hand up. "Don't even start," I growled without looking at him. Izzy grinned devilishly.

"Well you know how you could make that even? You take your shirt off. I'm pretty sure he would be just as distracted then."

My jaw dropped and I felt my cheeks heat up instantly.

"_Isabelle!_" I shrieked. I could hear Jace's golden laughter behind me.

"Oh, I think I would be picking a lot more fights if she started taking her shirt off whenever we argued," he said. I turned to glare at him.

"Fine," I said, bending down to slip my shoes on. "I'll go without you. Maybe your brother and Magnus want to go." I grabbed my bag and yanked it onto my shoulder angrily. I started to leave the room when Jace grabbed my wrist. I turned to face him, pulling my arm free.

"Clary, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to hurt yourself. You're not exactly graceful…" I snorted this time.

"Understatement." He grinned.

"Do you _really_ want to go?" I nodded vigorously and he sighed in defeat.

"If you break any bones, you're doing your own _iratze_." I smirked at him.

"Whatever you say, Jace."

By the time we'd reached the skating rink, we had gathered a small party of people. Simon, Izzy, Magnus, and Alec had all decided to join us. Half of me was happy that we'd all get to hang out together and half of me was borderline pissed because I had wanted to make this a date with Jace.

I felt like that one half of me was being a bad friend and told it to shut up.

Jace and I were charged with the duty of picking up skates for everyone. I felt that this was highly unfair since it was _our_ date that they were all crashing. Yeah, I kind of gave up telling the bitter side of me to shut up. We ordered the six pairs of skates, earning a weird look from the bearded man at the rental counter.

Heading back to where we'd left the others, we were juggling six pairs of skates between the two of us. I'm pretty sure I almost lost a finger at one point. I sat down on one of the benches, noting that there weren't a lot of people here—unsurprising since it was a Wednesday afternoon.

I slid my feet into the skates, tapping the bottom of it on the rubber mats to get my foot in correctly. I tightened the laces the way I'd been taught when I was little. I caught Jace staring at me oddly and gave him a questioning glance.

"You don't want figure skates, like Isabelle?" I grinned, shaking my head but Simon responded before I could.

"Clary's never worn figure skates. We both did ice hockey when we were little and she learned how to skate like a hockey player. You'll notice that figure skaters and hockey skaters skate differently." He pointed to me. "She skates like a hockey player."

Jace raised a brow, smirking.

"Clary, a hockey player?" I shook my head quickly.

"No. I am _not_ a hockey player, I just learned to skate like one. I can barely control these things half the time."

He smiled and stood, wobbling a little on the skates. When I was finished lacing mine up, I stood up too, less shaky than him. Isabelle's skates didn't fit, so her and Simon told us to go on ahead. We'd almost reached the ice when Magnus caught sight of the hot chocolate, pulling Alec along with him and leaving Jace and I to enter the rink. I stepped on first, dodging a little girl flying by. I clung tightly to the wall, moving away enough that Jace had room to enter.

He braced himself on the wall as well, staring down at his feet as though asking what the hell they were doing on ice. I turned and started moving my feet, the movements familiar from my childhood. After just a few minutes, I was secure enough to peel away from the wall. I skated around once before meeting back up with Jace. He was leaning back against the wall, watching me with a smile.

The rink was nearly empty, so I was sure he could see me no matter where I was in the rink. I wrapped my arms around him, smiling as he gripped the wall a little tighter in his hands.

"Come on, let's skate, Jace!" I said, trying to pull him away from the wall. He wrinkled his nose a little before smiling.

"I just like watching you skate. You look so happy," he said, moving one hand to go around my back. I couldn't help a small frown.

"But I want to skate _with_ you. That's why we rented you a pair of skates, remember?" He smiled again, but I saw that it was slightly strained. Then he looked away, seeing something through the extremely thick, slightly warped glass.

"Look, Isabelle got us some cocoa."

I grinned, instantly moving from his arms.

"Come on!" I said, skating to the exit before stomping over to Isabelle choppily. She handed me a Styrofoam cup, filled to the top with steaming liquid.

I thanked her and took a tiny, cautious sip. The cocoa was warming my already chilled hands and I thought absently that I would have to wear my gloves when I went back out. Jace came up beside me, putting an arm around my shoulders and taking a cup from Isabelle.

We all chatted for a while before Magnus and Alec set their cups down to go skate. The four of us remaining watched them from outside the rink. I saw how clumsy they both were for a while before they seemed to get their balance about them. There was always that minute or so of skating before you managed to get the hang of it, just like riding a bike.

The couple held hands and skated slowly around the rink and after a while Simon and Isabelle joined them. I watched them with a little jealousy, trying to figure out why Jace wouldn't skate with me. After a few minutes of quiet wonderings, I finally gave up hoping he would go out onto the ice with me.

"I'm going to go skate," I said before briskly turning and walking choppily to the ice. I skated slowly for a while before bending over and bending my knees a little more to go faster. I did that for a few laps before slowing to join the others. We all talked for a while and I continued to cast mournful glances at Jace, who watched us from outside the rink.

Eventually, Simon left to go to the bathroom and Isabelle challenged me to a race, which ended up being full of laughter and cheap tricks.

**Simon's POV**

After too long a time of watching Clary skate around, shooting disappointed glances at her boyfriend, I excused myself to the bathroom before skating off the ice. I gave him a look as I walked by, mouthing for him to follow me. He raised an eyebrow but followed me anyway, lazily. He had taken his skates off when we were drinking cocoa, giving a whispered excuse to his girlfriend.

When we were out of eyeshot of the rink, I turned to glare at him.

"Trying to get me alone, Bloodsucker? I should let you know that I don't play for that team. I highly doubt I would be dating Clary if I did." He leaned his shoulder against the nearest wall, a lazy smirk on his lips.

I ignored his jibe, used to his sarcasm by now. I had a mission that I wasn't willing to wander from.

"Why aren't you skating with your girlfriend?"

His smirk wavered but remained.

"Because I like to watch _her_ skate," he returned quickly.

I frowned, not buying the excuse as easily as Clary apparently had.

"You can watch her skate from the ice beside her."

This time his smirk did fall, his eyes narrowing.

"And why exactly do you care?" he spat angrily.

I resisted the urge to snarl back at him, sighing instead.

"Because she's my best friend and you're being an asshole. She wanted to skate _with_ you. Or else she wouldn't have asked you to come with her. So why the hell won't you just humor her. You try your damndest to make her happy, even I have to admit that, so it amazes me that you won't ice skate with her. You're already here so why the h—"

"I do not know how to ice skate, you moron!" He cut me off finally, his jaw clenched and eyes blazing. I felt my eyes widen as he admitted that. No wonder he hadn't told her. He never admitted weaknesses, even something that's not really a weakness.

"How do you not know how to ice skate?" I blurted. I thought _everyone _ knew how to skate. He scoffed, looking away and leaning back against the wall.

"You think Valentine found that to be important knowledge when I was growing up? If it wouldn't help me kill things then he didn't find it necessary to teach me." His arms were crossed over his chest angrily.

Now, I'm not an idiot. I know that growing up with Valentine wouldn't be a normal childhood in the slightest and I know that it'd left lasting scars on all of his children, even Clary, although she hadn't been raised by him, just fathered. But hearing Jace admit that his father never did anything with them that didn't further their strengths and abilities was a shock.

"I understand why you haven't told her, but you seriously need to. She needs to know why you're not willing to skate with her. She loves skating and if you don't give her a practical excuse about why you won't, she's going to either be upset or seriously pissed. Probably both," I added.

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I know."

I picked my hand up to rest it on his shoulder as I would with any other guy, but he glared at it as though ready to cut it off so I let it fall back to my side. It was a quick reminder that Jace wasn't 'any other guy'.

"She likes fish too," I said, just to ease the silence. "You should buy her some fish."

His brows furrowed together as he stared at me. "Fish?" I shrugged at him.

"Live ones. She likes eating fish too, but she likes live fish. Like-the ones that go in the tank with the water. The ones that aren't fried."

He shook his head slowly at me.

"By the angel, you're a moron." And he turned and walked away.

I frowned, pushing a hand through my hair.

"Well that was going well for a few minutes."

**Clary's POV**

I laughed as Magnus pulled Alec down to the ice beside him. The warlock had fallen when he tried to take a turn too sharply and Alec had just been trying to help him when he offered a hand to his boyfriend. Instead, Alec was pulled down beside him. Isabelle grinned beside me, snapping a picture on her phone as she'd been doing all night. By now there were only a few other people on the ice even though it would be open for a good two more hours.

I heard Jace calling my name and turned quickly, seeing him gesturing for me to go see him. I skated towards him, dodging Simon as he went over to his girlfriend. I skidded off the ice, going to stand in front of him.

"Hi," I said cheerily, hoping he was going to join us now. I couldn't help being envious of the other two couples skating around together.

"Hi," he parroted, leaning down to kiss me. "Come on, I need to talk to you."

I frowned, instantly wary of what he was going to say.

"Okay?" He sat me down beside him on one of the wooden benches and looked at me, biting his lip a little.

"What is it?" I asked, grabbing his hand.

"I know that you want me to skate with you," he said, smiling slightly. "And I'm sorry that I haven't been but…you know what my childhood with Valentine was like. He was all about training and killing. He didn't really let me do stuff just for fun." He was looking down at our hands nervously and I smiled at him.

"Except for spaghetti baths on your birthdays," I said. He looked up at me and grinned.

"I can't believe you still remember that."

"I remember everything about that night," I said honestly.

His smile softened and he seemed to get back to the matter at hand when his eyes caught my skates.

"So, clearly ice skating falls under the category of both 'fun' and 'useless to kill people'. He never took me ice skating. Neither did the Lightwoods. I've just…never done it," he admitted.

I looked at him, amazed.

"You've never ice skated before?" He shook his head and I grinned. "Why didn't you just tell me? Come on, I'll teach you!" I stood up quickly, grabbing his skates from under the bench and thrusting them at him. He twisted his mouth to the side in reluctance.

"I'm having plenty of fun just watching you have fun. I don't really need to—"

I cut him off with a sharp look, my hands going to my hips. For once, I was taller than him since he was still sitting and I was in skates, and it was working to my advantage.

"Jace Lightwood. Put your goddamn skates on before I drag you out there in your sneakers," I snapped. A middle-aged couple walking by smiled at us and Jace raised a brow at me.

"You're drawing attention," he pointed out. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't care. Now put your skates on before I do it for you. Besides, you draw more attention than this just walking down the street." He smirked before finally taking the skates from me when I pretended to drop them in a highly personal area.

He laced them up the way I showed him and he followed me to the ice. He sighed, looking at the ice as though he wished to be anywhere else.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this from those four," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Suck it up." He held onto the wall, lifting his feet up to walk like normal on the ice. I smiled, shaking my head.

"Nope, not like that. Look at my feet, okay? Watch how they move." I turned and skated away a few feet before returning to face him.

"Now you try." When he tried again, nothing had changed since the last time. I frowned.

"Were you watching my feet at all?" He shook his head, grinning.

"Nope."

"Jace, stop staring at her ass," Isabelle snapped, coming up behind me. I felt my cheeks heat up and smacked his chest with the back of my hand. He grabbed it, smirking.

Isabelle rolled her eyes, flipping her hair over her shoulder with one gloved hand.

"Well, we're taking a cab home. Magnus is whining he's cold and Alec is mad because Magnus knocked him over. And I'm hungry so Simon and I are going out to dinner at Taki's." She turned and skated off, meeting up with the others. They walked out of sight and I watched them with amusement.

"They're like little kids," Jace commented. I nodded in agreement before giving him a serious look.

"Pay attention to my _feet _this time." He nodded and I skated away again.

When he'd finally gotten the basics and I'd convinced him that falling will hurt nothing but your pride, I grabbed both of his hands. I skated backwards carefully and he skated forwards with me. After a while, we were moving smoothly together and I let go of one of his hands, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. I held onto him with one hand and started skating beside him slowly. He watched his feet carefully as he did, trying to mimic my movements.

I grinned when I finally picked up on why his skating was so unbalanced.

"Jace, your ankles are supposed to be straight up and down, not parallel with the ice." He frowned a little, looking to my feet.

"It works this way, though. I have more control."

"No you don't. You just _think_ you do. Really the ice is controlling you. When your feet are sideways like that they catch in all the grooves and they don't allow you to move right to control yourself."

He frowned again, straightening out his ankles.

"Good. Now keep them like that." After a while, he was skating a lot more smoothly and I let go of his hand, making him skate on his own. When he was doing fine on his own, I skated back to him and grabbed his hand again. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek.

"You're amazing, you know that?" I felt my cheeks heat up and he laughed a little at my reaction. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I didn't think your cheeks could get any brighter with the cold in here."

"Oh, shut up," I said, although I was smiling.

He pulled me up in front of him and pressed his lips to mine. His were warm, even with how chilled the air was. When I tried to move to get closer to him, I felt my skates slip out to the side. I squealed as we both fell to the ice.

I landed on my bottom, my leg out to the side, tangled with Jace's.

"That hurt a lot less than I thought it would," he commented, looking to me with a little smile. I laughed, grabbing his hands.

"I told you so."

He grinned, pressing his lips to mine again.

"I love you," he said when he pulled away.

"I love you t—"

"Hey, kids! Skate's over! Off the ice!" I looked up to see a grumpy looking man with dark hair standing by the Zamboni gate. I frowned and stood up carefully, helping Jace up since he was still not so balanced.

When we made it back to the Institute, we were greeted with a grinning Isabelle waiting in Jace's room. She had some photos, already printed out, in her hands. When she handed them to us, grinning before racing out of the room, I was surprised to see that she'd managed to get pictures of the two of us skating together, even one taken right before we fell. So she'd been there the whole time.

Jace pretended not to be embarrassed, but I had a feeling that his cheeks weren't only red because we'd just gotten in from the cold.

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	6. Lost

**I can't thank you guys enough for the wonderful reviews :) They make me so happy it's not even funny. Just reading one makes my entire day so much better, so thank you so much. **

**This one came from a long few days of searching for something I'd lost-which just happened to be my favorite Christmas present which was literally the Morgenstern ring. My mom bought one for me for Christmas on ebay and it's the absolute best thing I've ever owned. So I lost it for a few days and it gave me the idea for this. I hope you guys enjoy it :)**

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Everyone's experienced the trauma of losing something important to them at least once in their life. It starts when you first realize that the object isn't where you left it. Your heart skips a beat and you pat around for it, expecting that it just shifted out of place for a second. And then the pounding in your chest starts, the feeling that it's about to drop straight out of your chest. And you look frantically but it's not where it was before.

I'd lost things before, known the feeling, but never something as important as what I couldn't locate now. No, not my phone, not my stele, or even my wallet. I would gladly hand over all three of those if the Morgenstern ring was in sight right now.

Feeling my heart began to race even faster as my eyes frantically searched the room, I felt around the chain one more time, searching desperately for the ring. When I didn't find it, I began to shift papers around, toss things aside. I was at Luke's, which meant that the ring was lost in the _worst_ place for things to be lost at the _worst_ time. My mother was putting the finishing touches on her wedding planning. Papers and plans and decorations were everywhere, along with Luke's pack business, books, and the normal household clutter.

I began to grow tired of keeping things in order and started just pushing things out of my way in my hunt. I felt my throat grow tight as I realized that I'd gone through the whole room twice already. I shoved my hand through my tangled curls, looking around the now-destroyed room in hopes that I would spot the glimmer of metal in the sun. When I didn't see any tell-tale sparkle, I dropped my head back to stare at the ceiling, blinking away frustrated tears.

Just then, I heard the door creaking open and a gasp of shock. My head snapped over to see my mom, surveying the room with wide eyes. She held a plastic shopping bag in her hand as she stared around in shock.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll clean it up, I promise. I just need to find something first."

She was silent for a moment and then her eyes rested on me.

"What the hell happened here, Clarissa?" I flinched. She was angry. She only ever used my full name when she was angry with me.

Then again, nobody really used my full name unless they were angry with me.

"I can't find it," I moaned, dropping down onto the couch and resting my head in my hands. I rubbed my forehead, my chest tight with despair.

I'd worn it into this room last night, I knew that for sure. I'd woken up from a nightmare and latched onto it like a lifeline. I hadn't let go of it until I had already made it downstairs from my room to the kitchen and gotten a glass of water. I'd still been clutching it when I fell asleep on the couch, watching some mindless movie about a dog that talked to his owner.

"Honey, what are you looking for?" I heard the concern in my mom's voice and felt instantly guilty.

"I'm sorry. I destroyed the room and now I'm getting you all worried. I just can't find my ring. The Morgenstern ring. I had it last night when I fell asleep down here but I can't find it now. But the chain isn't broken or anything, so I don't know how it got off." I unclasped the chain as I spoke, feeling my mom rub soothing circles on my back. I handed it out to her and she ran her fingers over it carefully, looking for any possible break in the links.

I knew it was futile though. Jace had bought me an incredibly strong chain after I'd snapped the last one when I tried to get it undone from a tangle in my hair. It was silvery and still looked delicate, but it was insanely strong. He'd admitted that I could probably snap it if I tried hard enough, but it'd be hard and there'd be no way for it to happen accidently.

"Is this electrum?" she asked, looking at me in surprise. I just shrugged.

"I don't know. It could be, knowing Jace. I snapped the last one, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got smart and bought me one that would be impossible to break." I saw her try to smother a secretive smile, but it didn't work very well. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.

"What?" When she didn't say anything I spoke again. "Mom. What is it? Why are you smiling like that?"

She sighed, looking at me and handing me back the still flawless chain. "Electrum chains are incredibly hard to make delicately like that. He paid a fortune for it if that's electrum."

I gave her an incredulous look. "You're joking, right? How much exactly is 'a fortune'?"

She just smiled, shaking her head. "Nope. It was his gift to you, I'm not telling you anything about it. It's his choice whether he wants you to know how much he spent."

I frowned, slightly irritated. "Come on, Mom! Since when do you have any alliance towards Jace?"

She just parroted her actions from before, smiling and shaking her head.

I groaned in frustration and clasped the chain back around my neck. Then I felt a pang in my chest again and remembered why papers were scattered all over the room. My mom must have noticed the change in my expression because she sighed, standing up from the couch.

"Well, we're not going to find anything in this mess. The best way to find something is to clean until it's revealed."

We started by assigning ourselves one type of paper to collect. Jocelyn was collecting all of the wedding papers and putting them in one neat pile on the coffee table while I shuffled through the mess to find Pack papers. When we'd picked up all the scattered papers and put them in the correct place, we went through and grabbed all the clothing and coats and shoes that had collected around the room.

We checked every pocket of every article of clothing before she took all the clothes to the laundry room and I hung up coats and scarves and put shoes in a line by the door. It was about the time when we were pulling out furniture to check behind and under it when there was a knock on the door. I flung it open, frustrated at our lack of progress.

Jace stood on the porch with a raised eyebrow. "Having a bad day?" He leaned forward and kissed the top of my head. I grabbed his hand, looking down.

I knew that I had to tell him I'd lost the Morgenstern ring, but I didn't know how. I stepped to the side, letting him in. He stepped in, shutting the door behind him. Then his eyes widened as he took in the couch that was pulled away from the wall and tipped forward. My mom was peering inside the bottom where things sometimes tended to collect with that couch.

"Rearranging the furniture? I must say, that is a very bold move, setting up the couch like that. Really gives the place an air of 'this couch allowed too many people to feel welcome to stay for extended periods of time. You're not welcome.'" I saw my mom smile a little while I slapped his arm.

"We're not redecorating. I, uh, lost something and we're trying to find it."

"We could use your help," my mom piped in. "This furniture is heavy."

Jace nodded. "Of course." Then he turned to me, looking concerned. "What did you lose that was so important you flipped a couch?"

I bit my lip, my eyes going around the room, anywhere but on him. "Clary? What is it?"

He grabbed my hand, looking down at me in concern. I sighed, sinking into him as my mom shot me a tiny smile before slipping away into the kitchen. I looked up at him, feeling tears burn at the back of my eyes. I grabbed the chain around my neck. "I can't find the Morgenstern ring. I fell asleep out here last night and it was still on. The chain isn't broken or anything so I don't know what happened to it."

He was silent for a second before responding. "You were worried to tell me that you misplace it? It's not your fault if the thing fell off the chain," he said softly, grabbing my chin gently and forcing me to look at him.

"I thought you'd be upset. _I'm_ upset. It's so important to us and I have no clue where it is, we've searched this whole room at least thirty times now and we've cleaned every inch of it and I can't find it anywhere. I don't know what—"

He cut me off, pressing his lips gently to mine. "Easy. We'll find it, Clary. It's okay," he said, smiling reassuringly at me.

I nodded, taking a deep breath as my mom came back into the room.

"We ready to flip some furniture?"

I sighed but nodded regardless. "I guess so."

A half an hour later, we had all collapsed on the sofa—pushed back in its proper position now. I heaved a sigh of exasperation, my head falling over onto Jace's shoulder. My hair was pushed back into a messy bun now, and he tugged gently on one of the curls that had come loose.

"Are you sure this was the last place you had it?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I remember falling asleep holding it. I was watching this stupid movie about a talking dog."

He raised a brow at me and I frowned. "What?"

"A talking dog? Were you watching Clifford?"

I vaguely heard my mom snort in amusement right before I smacked his chest. "No. I was not watching Clifford," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and tilting my head defiantly.

"Then what was it?"

I frowned again. "I'll have you know that it was a very… strange romantic comedy about a hopeless romantic trying to find a husband who would accept their very talkative best friend who happened to be a dog."

As soon as he began to smirk, I cut him off.

"I was planning on showing it to Alec to give him some pointers."

He looked confused for a minute and then mock offended.

"Did you just call me a dog, Clarissa?" I grinned widely at him and patted his head demeaningly.

"Oh, look who got the joke! Good boy! I'll have to give you a biscuit for that one!"

By now my mom was struggling to contain laughter. Jace's eyes narrowed as he looked at me. I saw the corners of his lips twitching as he fought a smile.

"What does that make you, then? Since you're dating me?" By now we were both grinning goofily.

"The only person willing to put up with your crap. Tread carefully."

Before he even had time to respond, the front door slammed shut. I jumped probably ten feet and ended up actually sitting on Jace's lap. He laughed, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Ooh, I do believe that Jace was just put in his place."

"Jesus, Magnus! You scared the crap out of me!" I cried, holding a hand over my chest. I could feel Jace's laughter through my back and leaned back into him.

The warlock shot me a devilish grin and bowed, his hair dropping a rainbow of glitter to the floor. "Always a pleasure."

"You better be vacuuming that," I said, pointing to the small pile on the carpet. "We just cleaned in here." His mouth twisted to the side as he stared accusingly at the pile.

"I told Alec he got me the wrong gel. That stuff doesn't hold the glitter to my hair at _all_."

I rolled my eyes just as Alec himself stepped in through the front door, juggling shopping bags from a multitude of different stores.

"By the angel, Magnus. Did you really need all this?" Magnus just nodded solemnly at his boyfriend, who grunted in disapproval as he dropped the bags to the floor.

"And you couldn't carry even _one_ of your own bags?"

"Hey, I carried the ring!" Magnus defended, pulling a small bag from his pocket. He turned to me, tossing the bag to me. I just barely caught it before it hit me in the face and Jace chuckled behind me. "They put it in a box. Said it'd be easier to care for if you had somewhere for it."

I raised a brow. "What are you talking about?" I asked, peering into the bag. I saw a small, velvet black box and pulled it out, eyeing it warily. "Magnus, if you're proposing to me then you're gonna be pretty disappointed."

"Excuse me?" Jace cried, looking over my shoulder. Magnus laughed, his cat eyes shining in amusement.

"Oh, no. This has all gone dreadfully wrong, I'm proposing to Jace, not you," he said, winking playfully.

"Sorry buddy, you'd need just a few surgeries to match my tastes," Jace said, resting his chin on my head.

"Oh, but if he had the correct anatomy you would marry him?" I asked, tipping my head back to shoot him a mock-glare.

He grinned teasingly at me. "Of course. But one surgery would have to be height. I'm not sure I could manage kissing someone my height anymore. I'm much too used to you."

"Oh, well that's reassuring," I muttered, my cheeks heating rapidly. He chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"But really, what is this?" I asked, poised to flip the top open. Magnus gave me a confused look.

"Do you honestly not remember?" I shook my head, confused.

"I woke you up when Alec and I came in this morning looking for Jace. We asked if you wanted to go shopping with us and you said no. I asked you if you wanted us to get the Morgenstern ring cleaned while we were at the jewelry store and you gave it to me to get cleaned." My jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" he nodded and I snapped the lid open to reveal the object we'd been searching for for hours. "Magnus," I nearly yelled. "You can't ask me stuff when I'm half asleep! I don't remember even being awake! I just woke up and it was gone, we've been searching for it all morning!" Magnus grimaced a little.

"Well, I hope it wasn't too inconvenient."

Jace responded before I could.

"We. Flipped. The. Goddamn. Couch. And every other piece of furniture in here."

"Clary and I scattered all of my wedding papers all over the floor looking for that thing," Mom added, her voice slightly irritated.

Alec looked guilty, but Magnus just shrugged.

"Well, you have it now."

I felt a mixture of severe irritation and relief, but the relief was stronger so I didn't say anything, just quickly unclasped the chain around my neck and slipped the ring on before redoing the clasp around my neck. Once its familiar weight was back in place, I felt as though I'd gotten a piece of me back, which I knew was foolish considering I hadn't been the one that wore it for more than a decade. I wondered then, if Jace had felt as though his hand was ten pounds lighter after he ceased to wear it on his finger.

I vaguely head Jace reply to the warlock with a sarcastic comment—something about donkeys, but as I sunk, exhausted, against his side, he ceased speaking, wrapping his arm around me protectively.

"You okay?" he asked, rubbing my arm soothingly. I nodded, yawning a little.

"Tired. I didn't sleep a lot last night and I was up early this morning," I explained, curling myself into his side. I felt his lips press to the top of my head as he brought his other arm around to grab my hand. I realized then that I'd never asked him about the electrum chain, but I was too exhausted to worry much and pushed it to a little folder in my head marked 'things to worry about later'.

"Sleep then, I'll stay here with you and watch a movie. I'm sure Alec wouldn't mind putting a movie in for me, right?" I could hear the sickeningly sweet tone to his voice and grinned even as I began to drift into sleep.

I heard a snarky remark from Alec before I was asleep, finally able to relax as I felt the weight of the Morgenstern ring against my collar bone.

* * *

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	7. Kitten

**This one was requested by a guest :) I know it's not really centered around the idea given, which was Jace and Clary's first time, but it is somewhat. It was kind of a hard chapter to write, really, so I apologize about anything lacking in it and the long wait. **

**Thank you once again to all the reviews I've received. I love to read them, they make my day and inspire my writing :)**

* * *

Okay, so it was more than just the glare she was shooting me—a glare that made me think immediately of an angry kitten—it was just as much the fact that she had was covered pretty much head to toe in ichor. I knew, of course, that I had a fair bit on myself, but not near as much as her. But I honestly hadn't meant to cover her with the stuff when I pierced one of the demon's four lungs. It just bled a _lot_ more than I'd been expecting.

"Jace Lightwood," she snapped, wiping the smile from my face effectively. I'd forgotten to hide it. "That was _not_ funny. And _you_ are explaining to Isabelle what just happened because this is _her_ jacket and shoes. And Maryse, when she sees the mess we make of the Institute."

This time, I allowed the smile to form. I knew for a fact that both of them would definitely throw a fit, but I couldn't help but compare Clary in my head to a drenched kitten. Her hair was plastered to her face, which held an angry scowl. A dagger hung loosely from her hand and as much as I knew that she was angry and should therefore be threatening, she was just too cute.

She scoffed at my look, storming past me towards the mouth of the alley. The two demons had been our first mission together. We'd been following a lead on a string of mundane and downworld slaughters. We'd found two demons, one male and one female—Eidolons—that posed as humans, seducing mundanes and downworlders alike and using them before killing them.

"C'mon Clary, I'll explain to both of them," I said as I followed her out onto the sidewalk. I saw her stiffen as a mundane passed her, but he didn't even glance her way—strange since even in New York City, a teenage girl walking around covered from head to toe in black gunk is abnormal. Then I saw her shoulders relax as she glanced at the glamour rune on her arm.

"Don't be angry," I said once I caught up with her. "I didn't even make any comments. I have a few though, if you think they'd lighten the mood."

She glared at me out of the corners of her eyes, but didn't even turn her head. I sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders even as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, I'll be covered in ichor too. We can be filthy together."

I saw her trying to force the corners of her mouth down, but it didn't work. I still caught the smile.

"See, you're not really mad. You just have a reason to be. That doesn't mean you _are_ angry."

She scowled lightly at me but seemed to have gotten over it for the most part as I made an obvious effort to get as much ichor on my clothing as I could. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, trying to ignore the ichor that I could taste on my lips afterwards.

"You did great. Didn't need my help at all," I praised, squeezing her arm lightly. I looked down at her and saw her smiling, even while her cheeks turned red.

"Well I was trained by the best, wasn't I?"

I grinned, feeling pride burst forward in my chest. Clary was learning well, and quickly. She was picking up quickly on other languages as well, although the credit for that goes to Alec, not me. He had taken on teaching her languages, including Latin, which drove me nuts. It was something about the accent she acquired when she spoke it, the way she rolled her 'r's that made me instantly want to divert the lesson to a more private location than the library. Maybe that was why everyone refused to let me teach her foreign languages.

"Yes, you most definitely were."

The rest of the walk to the Institute was in silence, me contemplating how she'd react if I asked her to repeat the Shadowhunter motto—in its original language of Latin of course, and her probably thinking of how Isabelle would react to seeing the ichor staining her clothing.

When we reached the Institute, she made me walk in first just in case anybody was there and I laughed at her antics. She also made me walk out of the elevator before her, keeping me in front of her like some kind of human shield in case she ran into Isabelle. I knew she was worried about tracking a mess onto Maryse's carpets as well, but she wouldn't be hiding behind me if that was it. No, she was definitely hiding from Isabelle. Izzy was likely to inflict bodily harm, while Maryse would just lecture us. While I knew Clary would prefer to run into Maryse, I wasn't sure which one _I_ would prefer.

We were almost to my room, and I was sure we would make it to safety when I heard a shriek from behind us.

"Jace Lightwood, Mom is going to _kill_ you! You two have tracked ichor all through the hallways!" I saw Clary flinch as she turned to face Isabelle. "And by the angel, Clary! What did you do to my clothes?"

Clary sighed, rolling her eyes.

"A demon bled on me. Clearly. We were fighting demons. Seriously, Isabelle. You let me borrow these knowing that I would be slaughtering things in them. And guess what, when you slaughter things, they bleed. So, yeah, I got some ichor on them. I'll buy you new ones. Or I'll ask Magnus to. That's a lot cheaper."

Isabelle looked a little stunned. Then she looked at me. "Damn, Jace. What did you do to piss her off?"

I raised a brow, seeing Clary cross her arms over her chest and narrow her eyes at Isabelle. Once again, I was reminded of a kitten. "Well, you see, it's actually a really funny story—"

"No it's not," Clary interrupted sharply. I frowned a little at her.

"Well, _I_ think it's a funny story. At least, it was from my point of view." She glared at me.

"Weren't you supposed to be the one telling her what happened? Why am I trying to explain myself?"

I sighed exaggeratingly. "Fine then. I got ichor all over her when I killed my demon. Now that was not near as much fun to tell as the one I was going to use."

I saw Clary fighting another smile as she looked up at me. "Oh? And what exactly would your story have been?"

"Well, it would have started with us walking through the park, as you complimented me lavishly on my stunning attractiveness. But as we were walking by, a giant duck appeared—I told you that you can't trust those things—and attacked us. Me, being the valiant hero I am, jumped between you and the duck, spearing it in just the perfect spot—a pinprick chink in their impenetrable armor they hide under the fur in their chest. It, of course, exploded, showering us with ichor since it was—like all ducks—demonic in origin. I, however, am much less filthy because heroes do not get filthy."

Clary stared at me in complete bafflement, not saying anything for a while, just staring at me.

"What the hell?" Isabelle cried after a minute. "What was that?" I shrugged, shooting her a crooked grin.

"That was the entertaining version of tonight's events."

Clary's eyebrows shot up. "I think we saw tonight quite differently. Maybe because you're clearly on something. Did you take something from Magnus?"

I laughed. "Why, are you hoping I'll share?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm just hoping you're not going to be hung over from something tomorrow. If you are, I'm leaving you on Magnus' doorstep." I frowned.

"Now that would hardly be the best idea. Considering that if he were the one to give me something, he'd probably just give me more and send me back to you."

She rolled her eyes. "And I'll stick a return to sender tag on you and stick you in the mailbox."

"I don't think I'd fit, really."

She scowled now.

"Yeah, your ego would definitely take up too much room."

And she spun on her heel and pushed my door open, walking in. I grinned at her back before turning to Isabelle, who scoffed at me.

"I'll never understand why she puts up with you. I mean, I'm your sister, I have to, but she has no such obligation," she said, leaning her shoulder against the wall.

"Yes she does. She loves me, that's her obligation. So, she does have to put up with me." Isabelle had given me a flat look and was about to respond when I heard Clary shout from somewhere in my room.

"That's not true. I may love you but that doesn't mean I put up with your crap." She came back out and tossed me her stele. I caught it easily, shooting her a questioning look.

"Your arm is bleeding."

I looked down and realized, to my shock, that my arm was in fact bleeding. It was bad enough that I could distinguish it from the ichor on my shoulder. I pulled my sleeve up and traced the stele over my skin, creating an _iratze_ quickly. I saw a fresh one on her upper arm and frowned.

"You didn't tell me you got hurt." She shrugged, indifferent.

"You didn't tell me."

Isabelle snorted, pushing away from the wall. "You two are like little kids. I'm going to bed. You should probably clean up your mess before Mom sees it." And she turned and walked away briskly, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

I followed Clary back into my room, still bothered that she hadn't told me about any injury.

Maybe it'd been just a couple minor cuts, so it wasn't really worth mentioning. But still, who knows what demons could do to you by making just one little cut.

"Where were you hurt?" I asked as she pulled her boots off. She looked up at me in surprise from across the room.

"Huh?"

"Where'd the demon get you?" I asked again. She looked surprised.

"Oh, it just clipped me on the shoulder with one of its claws. I didn't even notice until I saw it in the mirror."

I frowned, but didn't press it, seeing no mark remaining on her skin.

"I'm going to go take a shower. I feel disgusting." I grinned, unable to resist.

"Want help?"

She gave me a blank look, but didn't move or reply.

"I didn't hear a no," I teased, grinning jokingly at her.

"Well, I didn't say no," she replied quickly.

My eyebrows shot up. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not, so I said nothing, just staring at her. Then I realized that this was _Clary_. Of course she was joking. She raised her brows, her face betraying some emotion, although I couldn't decipher it. She turned then, heading into the bathroom. She gave me one more unreadable look before shrugging and shutting the door.

I stared at the door for a minute, confused. I wasn't so sure now if she had been joking. The look she'd given me had seemed somewhat…disappointed. I sighed, thinking that it was better I hadn't responded. If I had made a move to do what we'd both implied, and she hadn't been serious then it would've been a bit worse than just getting a couple odd looks.

I slipped into another room to use a different bathroom and took a quick shower before returning to my room. Clary was still in the process of her shower, which wasn't surprising since she had gotten more ichor on her _and_ she had more hair to scrub it out of.

When she finally did come out, I was already dressed for bed. I couldn't help but stare when she came out, trailed by a cloud of steam. She was wearing only a white towel and I saw her cheeks redden as she caught me staring. I didn't look away, completely unabashed.

"I forgot to grab clothes," she said, looking away quickly and moving over to the dresser. She grabbed something, but I didn't focus on what her hands were doing.

"Clary," I said, as she turned towards the bathroom. It was killing me. Between the looks she'd given me and our situation now, I had to know.

She turned to look at me questioningly. When I didn't say anything, trying to figure out the best way to ask, she spoke. "What?" Her cheeks were even brighter now.

"Were you serious?" Her brows furrowed as she looked at me.

"What?"

"Earlier. You know, before you got in the shower," I said, swallowing nervously as she took a step towards me. I realized that her hair was dried enough that it wasn't dripping. Her skin seemed to be free of water droplets. She'd clearly had plenty of time to dry off. Why hadn't she grabbed clothes while I was out of the room?

Her cheeks seemed to get even brighter, if that was possible.

"You're clueless sometimes, you know," she said, instead of answering directly.

I felt a grin spread across my face as I watched her shift from foot to foot. I stood up quickly, walking over to her. I placed my hands on both sides of her face, making her look up from the floor.

"You're confusing sometimes, you know," I mocked lightly. "I thought you were joking. Otherwise, I definitely would've taken you up on your offer."

Her eyes widened slightly and I pressed my lips to hers before she could say anything. She froze for a minute before kissing me back. I tangled my hands into the damp strands of her hair, smelling the strawberry shampoo wafting from it. She held tightly to my shoulders, pulling me closer to her.

I lowered one hand from her hair and to her lower back, pressing her fully against me. She made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded like surprise, but didn't object any more. She moved her hands to press flat against my shoulder blades, her hands on my bare skin leaving a trail of fire where she touched me. I could feel her heartbeat against my chest, the pace matching my own frantic beating.

She ran her hands down my back, and I felt the need to feel more of her skin under my own hands. I pulled away from her and she frowned at me, trying to tug my head back down. I smiled at her before speaking.

"Clary, you're only in a towel," I reminded her even as I wished to put my lips back on hers. I didn't want to go further than she was ready for and I knew that if we continued any more with her only covered with a short towel it would probably lead to more.

She nodded quickly. "I noticed," she said, tugging on my hair to pull me back down to her. I let my lips touch hers briefly before pulling away again.

"Clary, if you don't go put something else on then you need to stop kissing me," I muttered to her, our lips just barely not touching. She made an annoyed sound.

"Or there's another option. We can just keep kissing." I chuckled, although the sound was strained.

"No, I mean unless you want to finish what we started in Paris then you need to put some clothes on," I said, although I wanted her to do the exact opposite.

"I know what you meant," she said, raising her brows at me as she pulled away slightly.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, my mind whirling while she stared at me with raised brows. Was she serious? Well, of course she was serious or else she would've put some clothes on by now. I felt like slapping myself as she started to step away, a blush coating her cheeks, clearly thinking I was uninterested.

Her eyes went to the floor and she began to turn away when I grabbed her arm, pulling her flush against me and crashing my lips to hers. She responded quickly, her hands going up around my neck and tangling in my hair. I stepped forward carefully, pushing her back until her knees hit the edge of my bed. I stopped then, pulling my lips from hers with an excessive amount of self-control.

"Are you sure?" I asked, meeting her eyes and hoping she would say yes.

She didn't respond, just rolled her eyes and pushed herself up on her toes to press her lips to mine again. "If I wasn't sure," she said in between kisses. "Then I would be wearing more clothes."

I couldn't argue with that logic. I pressed forward until she fell back onto the bed. I dropped carefully over her, keeping my weight off of her. Her lips were soft yet hard against mine as she reached down for the button on my pants. I stood up and slipped them off quickly before moving back onto the bed with her. I tangled one of my hands in her hair as our lips collided again. I could feel her hand trailing over my back, leaving trails of heat where her fingertips brushed across my skin.

I reached my hand up to the knot that held the towel to her and began to slowly undo it, giving her plenty of time to stop me even as I fought the urge to rip it off of her and finish what I'd stopped in Paris.

She made a sound of impatience in the back of her throat and I grinned against her lips. We scrapped the rest of the fabric separating us and then there was just skin against skin. My hands moved over her soft, heated skin and I could feel her heart beating fast against mine, probably fast enough to rival a humming bird's, but not fast enough to match the rapid beat of my own heart.

I felt her gasp quietly against my lips as I entered her but then she was kissing me back even harder than before. I felt her nails digging into my back and couldn't hold back a sound of pleasure.

The next morning, when I woke up, she was lying beside me, curled into my side with her head on my chest. The covers were pulled up and tucked under her arm, showing only her bare shoulders. Her bright hair was spread out like a fan around her and I smiled and pushed some back behind her ear so I could see her face more clearly. I thought of the night before and couldn't keep back a stupid grin as I looked down at Clary. I could feel the slight sting of the nail marks on my back but I knew I wouldn't be using an _iratze_ on them.

She began to stir and I forced the grin off my face, leaving only a small smile as I watched her eyes peek open. She breathed in softly as she tucked herself further into my side. I brushed a strand of hair from her face and she looked up at me, her eyes bright and sparkling when she smiled.

"You seem to be in a particularly good mood this morning. I wonder what could be the cause," I said, kissing her nose. She rolled her eyes, still smiling.

"I could say the same for you, you know. You look like a kid on Christmas."

I grinned now. "That was a _very_ merry Christmas Eve then."

I saw her cheeks flush as she dropped her head down to hide her face in the crook of my neck. I ran my fingers through her hair as she relaxed, her head resting over my chest again.

"Think Isabelle's attempted breakfast yet?" she asked suddenly, looking up at me. I raised a brow.

"Does that mean you're hungry? You've got to be if you're willing to eat something Isabelle made."

She laughed softly and I smiled, kissing her again.

"No," she said with a grin. "I mean, usually Alec takes over after she fails," she elaborated, raising her brows.

"Does that mean it's time to get up?" I asked, feeling a little mournful at the thought. I was perfectly content to lie here forever with Clary in my arms.

"C'mon. We can't stay here all day. It's already ten," she coaxed, grabbing my hand in hers and sitting up. I grinned, looking up at her.

"You know, I think I like the view from right here." Suddenly it was like her cheeks were trying to outdo her hair. She pulled the blanket up around her chest and stared down at me.

"Come on, Jace," she said, giving me an exaggerated pout. I knew that this was going to end with me getting up and following her from the room, no matter how I played my cards. I wasn't really _that_ determined to stay in bed—I could feel my stomach growling too—but the look on her face was too cute.

"Hmm," I responded vaguely, staring up at her as her eyes narrowed. She huffed quietly before moving away from me, taking the blankets with her and wrapping them around herself. I sighed, knowing it was time to get up.

I pushed myself up off the bed, watching her as she padded over to the dresser.

"I don't know why you're holding a blanket around you," I commented to her back as she grabbed some of her own clothing that she kept in one of the drawers. "It's not like I didn't see it all last night," I said with a smirk. She didn't even look back at me before responded.

"Shut up and stop smirking." I did as she said, grinning instead. She knew me too well.

Instead of stepping into the bathroom to change, as I'd expected, she let the blankets fall to the floor, slipping on clothes as I watched her with slightly widened eyes. When she turned around to face me again, fully clothed, I saw that her hair was sticking up wildly. She blew out a puff of air from the corner of her mouth with a small frown as she looked at me.

"How bad is it?" she asked, trying to comb through it with her fingers. They caught on a tangle and her mouth twisted to the side. I bit my lip to hide my amusement.

"You might want to brush it," I suggested. She groaned, disappearing into the bathroom. While she ripped a brush through her hair and brushed her teeth, I slipped on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt.

I stepped into the bathroom with her and bumped her over so we could share the sink. I brushed my teeth while she yanked her hair up into a ponytail. I followed her from the bathroom when she was finished and saw her grab her phone from the nightstand and tuck it into her jeans pocket.

We stepped out into the hallway together and headed in the direction of the kitchen. She began to sprint lightly down the hallways on the balls of her feet, barely making a sound as they hit the ground. She laughed gleefully as I caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist from behind, lifting her up and spinning her before letting her back down. I lowered my head and kissed her lightly before pulling away. She grinned widely before turning and pushing the kitchen door open. I followed her in to see that breakfast was already finished and Alec, Magnus and Isabelle were seated at the table. Clary said a quick good morning before going over to grab a plate. She began to stack food on it and I leaned against the wall by the table, waiting for her to finish so I could get some.

Alec's eyes were fixed firmly on his plate, his cheeks rosy. I raised a brow, wondering what was up with him. When I saw the smirk on Magnus' over-glossed lips, I figured that he'd made some kind of joke at Alec's expense. Clary moved past me with a smile and took a seat next to Isabelle. It was silent as I took a seat across from her. I raised a brow, looking around.

"Are you guys all training to be Silent Brothers? You're doing a damn good job, although I'm surprised you haven't told Magnus yet that warlocks can't be Silent Brothers. Especially not one as sparkly as him."

Isabelle snorted in response and Magnus pretended to be offended while Alec grinned down at his plate of pancakes and bacon.

"I'll have you know, I would never be caught dead in those drab cloaks they call clothing," Magnus snapped, shoving half of a pancake in his mouth. Clary and Isabelle both laughed while Alec rolled his eyes at his boyfriend.

"At least you'd be wearing some," Isabelle snickered. "You'd be doing better than some people at this table." She looked at me with a smirk.

I looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I swear, Isabelle, if you're bringing up the faerie plum again—"

"Nope. Not at all," she said with an innocent smile. I rolled my eyes, stabbing a pancake and lifting it to take a bite as Clary gave me a disapproving look. I set the fork and pancake back down.

"What?"

"I know you have manners, I've seen them when you come over for dinner." I raised a brow.

"And?"

"Use them," she snapped lightly, taking a bite of bacon. I frowned.

"Well, that's no fun now is it? I just want to have some fun," I said with a mock-pout. I saw Clary roll her eyes.

Isabelle suddenly burst out laughing. Magnus was grinning at her and Alec's face was beat red. Clary looked between the three then at me with a questioning look. I just shrugged, as clueless as her.

"I think you guys have _both_ had too much fun," Magnus commented, looking back and forth between Clary and I before winking at Isabelle and Alec. Alec groaned, dropping his chin to his chest and rubbing his forehead while Isabelle snorted ineloquently in a pathetic attempt to hold back laughter.

Clary looked at Magnus in confusion while something began to dawn on me, my stomach dropping to the floor.

No way. How the hell would they even know? Clary would be pissed…

"Yeah. Maybe you should just take a shower instead of having more fun. You know, a _cold_ shower," Isabelle elaborated with a smirk. Magnus grinned at her and Alec just rolled his eyes, staring at his food harshly.

Clary, bless her poor, innocent heart, looked at her close friend in confusion. Her head had tipped to the side a little, frowning. The motion brought the idea of a kitten up again in my head.

"What are you guys talking about?" Isabelle's face split into a wide, devilish grin.

"You seem so innocent, you know. I would've thought that afte—"

I dropped my fork down to my now empty plate with a loud crash, cutting Isabelle off. I gave her a harsh glare before smiling sheepishly at Clary, who looked at me in surprise. I saw Magnus cover his mouth to hide his laughter. I glared at him while Clary was distracted by Church pawing at her leg.

He grinned mischievously and I stood quickly, taking Clary's empty plate and dumping it in the sink with mine before grabbing her arm and pulling her from her chair. She looked at me in surprise as I tried to usher her from the room. "Why don't we go train for a bit? We didn't train last night."

"Oh no, you were a bit too busy for that now, weren't you?" Magnus said, just as Clary had pushed the door open. She froze. I let my head tip back, staring at the ceiling, my shoulders slumping. This was going to be bad. She turned around quickly to face the warlock, who grinned. Her face was tight, only the slightest blush visible on her cheeks.

"Care to elaborate on what, exactly, you mean by that?" I could see on her face that she'd figured it out, but she was clearly hoping she was wrong.

Magnus smirked first at me, when I shook my head vigorously at him from behind Clary. Then he turned it on Clary.

"Just trying to figure out what type of _training _you two were doing last night. Tell me," he said conspiratorially. "Is Jace a good instructor?"

Her eyes widened almost comically and I groaned quietly. Her face started to turn bright red. Then, to my surprise, she whirled around to face me.

"Did you say something? Already?" I saw Isabelle covering her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking violently while Magnus just looked smug. I shook my head quickly.

"I swear on the Angel, I didn't say a word," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. Her hands went to her hips.

"Then how do they know?" she asked, giving me a flat look.

"I have no clue," I defended as her angry look turned confused, her cheeks still bright red. Magnus decided to pipe in then.

"Perhaps, next time, if you're going to stay in bed until ten AM when you both normally sleep until seven, you should lock your doors."

Clary's eyes went wide again and I sighed, knowing now why Alec had looked so embarrassed.

"Poor Alec. I don't think he was prepared to see his brother in such a, eh hem, vulnerable, position." I glared at Isabelle.

"Don't even start," I snapped, pointing at her. "You have no room to talk, Miss vampy-love-bites." Clary wrinkled her nose.

"Okay, I definitely did not need to hear that," she said, shaking her head and dropping down into the chair she'd vacated earlier.

Isabelle barely even blushed. "Your point? It was only fun because Clary is just _so _innocent," she joked, reaching over and tapping Clary on the nose. The girl just glared at her.

"Not anymore, remember?" Magnus said.

Clary dropped her head down into her hands. "By the angel, shut _up_," she snapped at him. I felt a pang in my chest seeing that they were starting to bother her.

I didn't sit, having a feeling Clary wouldn't feel like sticking around for long. I had no doubt that they would keep going on like this until we both left.

"But it's so much fun. I just want to have some fun," Magnus mocked. I glared at him, pulling a dagger from my belt.

"Shut it, Warlock. Or I'll make you shut it. Permanently. Then maybe you really could be a Silent Brother."

Magnus narrowed his eyes at me. "I could have you on the floor with one flick of my fingers."

Isabelle, as immature and sick-minded as she is, began to laugh, her eyes tearing up. "Oh, that was perfect!"

"I hope that's how Clary felt." Finally, I heard Clary make a disgusted noise in the back of her throat before standing up quickly, pushing the chair back and nearly tipping it over.

"You guys are assholes," she snapped, storming from the room.

Isabelle looked shocked and somewhat guilty and Magnus had even stopped laughing while Alec just shook his head at them all. "I told you not to say anything," I said, turning to leave.

"Wait, Jace!" Isabelle said. I looked back at her to see her biting her lip. "Do you think she's really pissed? Like, pissed, pissed?"

I shrugged. "Probably. It's not like she would've really wanted that advertised to the world, so it's bad enough that you all know, it just made it worse to have you all making comments about it," I said honestly, still not pleased with any of them. Not that Alec had really done anything wrong. He'd probably just come in to check on us.

I turned and followed Clary out the door. I went into my room to see her resting back on the pillows, her eyes closed. She didn't look particularly upset, soothing the worry that she'd be crying when I came in. Then I chastised myself for that thought. Clary would be embarrassed, maybe even a little angry, but she wouldn't be _crying_. She wasn't a crybaby in the slightest and a little thing like this wouldn't provoke any tears.

Her eyes popped open when I sat beside her. I smiled. "Just think about it, now Isabelle will stop asking you when you're going to have sex with me," I said with a grin, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes, pushing me playfully.

"Oh, shut it." I saw her cheeks were still tinged pink and smirked. She narrowed her eyes at me, frowning.

"What? Why are you smirking? Do I have something on my face?" Her hand flew up to her face before smoothing her hair down while I chuckled.

She was too adorable for her own good, I realized. I'd never be able to leave her. Even when I was away from her for the slightest amount of time, I still thought of her. My thoughts went to the small box that was hidden away in the back of my closet, resting inside the box of my father's things. Someday, I thought peacefully as I held Clary to my side. Someday, we would both be ready.

"Jace?" Clary was looking at me quizzically.

"Hmm?" She scoffed, a smile playing at her lips.

"You were smirking at me?" She reminded me, clearly fighting a smile.

I shrugged, not really remembering why I _had_ been smirking at her. "I don't remember."

I grabbed her waist gently and lifted her up from where she sat and set her down on my lap, her legs straddling my waist. She let out an undignified squeak as I moved her, and then she glared lightly at me.

"Thanks for the warning," she said, raising her brows at me.

"Hmhm," I said, nodding at her. She grinned then, shaking her head slightly.

"You seem really zoned right now, you know." She reached forward and ruffled my hair. I could feel it sticking up when she pulled her hand back.

"Hm. I'm just enjoying spending time with you."

I saw a sincere, and somewhat shy smile appear as she looked at me, still slightly shorter even though she had the added height of my lap.

"Me too," she said, leaning forward to press her lips to mine. I put one hand on her lower waist, pulling her flush against me, while the other hand reached up to tangle itself in her hair. Her hands came up to rest on each side of my face and I felt her delicate fingers running over my skin. I pulled her more tightly to me, my free hand slipping under the hem of her shirt.

I heard the door swing open but, to my surprise, Clary barely even pulled her lips from mine. I heard someone clear their throat from the doorway and I pulled away from her, my hands resting on her hips, to scowl at Magnus. I saw Clary reach for something, but didn't pull my glare from the intruding warlock.

"You two didn't get enough of that last night? I would've thought—"

But we wouldn't ever find out what he thought because, before her could even finish his sentence, Clary had flung her arm forward, releasing the object in it and launching it at the warlock. Her shot went just wide enough that the dagger hadn't connected, although the margin was only by a mere inch. Magnus' cat eyes were wide with shock.

"Goodbye Magnus," Clary said, her voice rough as she turned away from him and back to me.

I grinned at her as I heard the door shut behind the stunned warlock. She grinned back before leaning forward again to continue where we'd left off.

* * *

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